


He's legit

by fish_wifey



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dating, F/M, Falling In Love, First Dance, First Time, Inspired by Music, Karasuno finds out they're dancing at one point, Kiyoko dances modern/ballet, Kiyoko finds out that Tanaka dances, Slow Build, Tanaka dances hip hop/urban, Tanaka pleasuring Kiyoko orally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-12
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-19 22:08:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5982412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fish_wifey/pseuds/fish_wifey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kiyoko's hobby is dancing; she does it in her free time and without anyone from the club knowing it. One day, she finds out that she's not the only one who has this artistic hobby to hide. She stumbles on a dance session in the big hall of the dance 'academy' she visits, and finds out about Tanaka's other passion beside volleyball.</p><p>And then, she falls in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> They've been my otp from the first moment that Tanaka shuddered and she ignored him. I've always wondered how I'd make them end up together in the canon-verse, and knew it could only be done if Kiyoko was the one to fall in love with him, hard and ruthless and with all those fluttering feelings. 
> 
> The fic became a bit bigger than imagined ;v; It's not a dance au, and I cannot dance myself so I hope all the technical moves and choreography come across well! I know the TanaKiyo ship is a tiny spec, and adding dancing might decrease the chance of people wanting to read it. So to everyone who decides it's worth their time, thank you sosososoo much in advance. I put so much love into this and I hope that whoever reads it, will like it ;v;
> 
> (tiny warning that due to the hip hop songs, there are some slurs.)

It’s early in the day, a crisp freshness hanging in the air while Kiyoko walks down the road to the dance center. She didn’t practice dancing as a sport, nor did Kiyoko put herself into loose clothing and moved for two hours just for the pure passion. When she entered the heavily-graffitied, overloaded-by-stickers entrance door of the dance center, she did so out of belief that dance held a special and extraordinary manner for her to express herself without being completely herself. 

Her loose-fitting dance clothes were neatly tugged away in her sports bag, which was slung over her shoulder as she greeted some of the ballerinas passing through. They were professionals; really thin girls who ate, slept and breathed what they did and were meant for a bigger stage than this. Unlike them, Kiyoko had done ballet only a few times, at beginner’s level. Today she came for jazz. 

As she passed the halls to the upper level where the class would be held in half an hour, she noticed a large crowd at the two doors to the largest hall on the lower level. From there she heard the speakers pumping hip hop and fast rap tracks from the speakers, while the people shouted their admiration. A lot of girls from the jazz dance crew were standing at the doors too, marvelling at whatever was happening within the walls. 

It was the overwhelming curiosity to know what was causing everyone to squish together and stand on tiptoe to see inside that drew Kiyoko in. As she stepped within hearing distance, the girls’ surprise and admiring faces became clearer to her.

“Ohhh, Kunimoto-kun spins so long! It’s incredible what he can do on one arm…” 

“I like the flips from the twins a lot. It looks dangerous sometimes, but they never collide.” 

Kiyoko didn’t try to look over them to see who they were talking about. Instead she greeted the girls. Shortly, she was enclosed in the half circle and was able to see the dancers in the hall. As Kiyoko did, she heard a female voice rapping. She knew the artists, if only because she was popular with the females in her vicinity doing urban style dance. Kiyoko had listened to Nicki Minaj a few times, but couldn’t keep up with either the fast English, or the amount of slang used.

The boys parted as the song came to an end, and went into the circle of boys and girls aged between 12 and 26, as a few others entered the center before the start of the next song.

The crowd situated at both doors went wilder this time. A lot of the girls Kiyoko had come to know being as level-headed as she was, started bouncing on their toes and clapping their hands, just as the song sounded with clapping as well. Kiyoko recognized this song; her English tutor had wanted to shake things up once and have her translate a transcript of this track. It also featured an artist Kiyoko liked, as they had used the ‘1 2 step’ song during jazz and urban dance a few times.

The boys in the center wouldn’t dance to routine though, that much was obvious. As on accident, Kiyoko’s eyes zoomed in on one boy all dressed in black; from the black hoodie that seemed too warm to dance in, to the large baggy pants, ending in the black shoes. The latter she recognized without trying to.

Volleyball shoes.

They were attached to the very same guy she’d known for 2 years, who had given her a compliment at least once, if not twice a day. As stormy as he could be if his head got too hot, he looked calm now, facing himself in the mirror the half circle parted at. The clapping went on longer than Kiyoko remembered the original to be.

Tanaka licks his lips, bounces on the ball of his heels, and once Ciara starts singing, he starts moving.

 _I’m- I’m the shit with no makeup, don’t have to curl my hair up_ Like the rest of the boys, Tanaka shook his ass in time with the beat, and they all let their hands roam over their heads. While the others had hair to actually roam through, Tanaka’s fingers just went over his shaven head. Somehow, this was more erotic.

When she learned that whenever the song came to the ‘ladies throw your hands up’ part, Kiyoko was surprised when Tanaka rounded on the group of ladies in which she stood frozen. He fingergunned at them, and on his command, they all put their hands up at the song’s pace. As best as they could, they sang along to the lyrics following after it. Tanaka’s smile was brilliant, even as he turned just in time for the verse Kiyoko knew to be Minaj’s started.

The oldest in the group, Rin, who was 24, actually clutched her best friend’s arm and whispered “But why does he have to be so young…” Kiyoko could hardly give the ridiculous thought any notice, as she watched Tanaka’s dancing. It was all too much to take in at once, but she couldn’t take her eyes off his smooth flowing movements, which were quietly hidden under his baggy clothes.

“He’s going to do it, he’s going to do it.” A girl next to Kiyoko whispered in awe, and neither of them took their eyes of the figure who went backwards into an one-handed handstand, twisting his legs high above while the bass line of the music faded away. Minaj’s _‘But who’s the daddy?’_ resounded loud in the hall, as everyone held their breath. Tanaka pushed himself off the hand, and landed in a squat _‘I graduate with honours’_. He rose up, lifted his hoodie off him and threw it away, then his balled fists rammed his chests. He saluted his mirror image to the name of Obama. He nodded to the calls of _’Yes, yes, I am ill’_ , his arms spread, while everything below them twisted to one side. 

As the rap picked up, so did Tanaka, who Kiyoko couldn’t look away from. Entranced by his fast steps, she watches as his muscles tighten as he uses them throughout the performance. Tanaka’s hands were either far away from himself, or they slid over his torso, fingertips going dangerously low over his hips as he circles them to Minaj’s words. 

Alike the other female viewers, Kiyoko made a smaller, but nonetheless embarrassing sound as Tanaka’s hand went to his crotch and he grabs himself through his pants. She even goes as far as putting her hand in front of her mouth, trying to hide the sound Tanaka made her utter. The gloss over comes from the girls who’re used to seeing it, and they rant how naughty he is, how disrespectful, how utterly delightful and charming. Eyelashes fluttering to the speed of Ciara’s refrain, Kiyoko hopes her blush doesn’t show too much.

 _’I’m- I’m the shit’_ resounds again, Tanaka pointing both thumbs to himself, his tongue past his bottom lip, laughing as if he knows the distress he caused behind him.

Kiyoko watches on, unable to help herself. During the refrain, Tanaka rolls his shoulders, his head low, and his back muscles move right beneath. Happy, he nods along to the beat, then turns on one leg a few times, his other pulled up behind him. Kicking the air, he lands on one foot each time he turns, and doesn’t lose balance once. Kiyoko notices how perfectly he did it on the Ciara lyrics _here, mine, I’m a dollar worth a dime_ , and felt how the air became very hot all of a sudden.

He fingerguns the girls again, who repeat their act and being part of the group performance. While his head remains on them this time, he circles his hips, lowering them to the ground. He’s on the floor as Minaj’s slow verse continues, then flips himself up again before the quick one begins. He slaps his bare hands below his chest. Kiyoko’s brain short-circuits this time, and her thoughts are running after the image of Tanaka’s taut torso, the way he can make those low squats and spontaneous jump. It’s obvious that it comes from his volleyball training, from doing digs and quick returns each and every day. 

Her mind is back when she hears one of the few things she remembers from translating the transcript of the song. _’I should really slap niggas’_ is accompanied by Tanaka swiping his hands, a hand movement known in the west ‘to be done’ with a thing or a person. He then stands sideways, legs wide, one foot stomping at the end of each line, his hips swaying from one to the other. It’s the aggressiveness Kiyoko has seen for the past 20 months that she notices, so late in the song, how Tanaka’s movements are really effeminate and fluent. The shock of watching guys dancing to the tune of female rappers comes late, since she’d been overwhelmed to see Tanaka, and all the moves he’d put so much effort into. Effort she never even knew he’d put into dancing. 

The rap picks up a last time, quickening Tanaka’s movements and letting him show more of his masculine side, as his shoulders tense up and he gathers with the other guys (who, Kiyoko remembers at the sight of them, had danced next to him all along). The last refrain sounds and the crowd grows loud again, as the group moves as one.

Tanaka breaks away from them, his arm outstretched to the group he played with the whole time, a single singer pointing at them while his head ducked low and he doesn’t watch them. The girls next to Kiyoko put their hands up one last time, and while the song fades out, chant:

“I know I’m cute I know I’m fly, you ask me why cause I’m legit.”

“The shit! Thank you so much.” Tanaka laughs and bows to them, and the girls quickly disperse once the music stops, pushing Kiyoko alongside of them in an energetic squabble/chat. The chatter surrounds Kiyoko, and not for the first time she’s happy being the manager of a male team, as the term ‘hen’s coop’ comes to her mind.

“Uwah, it doesn’t matter how many times I see it… Ryuunosuke-kun’s movements are just too amazing!”

“I’m so glad they do one last dance before we start. It’s a nice sight each and every week.”

“Oh, Shimizu-san, you were also transfixed, weren’t you?” As Miyako gazes ahead, currently transfixed as well as Kiyoko mutters incoherent words that no one really listens to.

It’s this kind of energy that pumps the girls up to dance to a jazz mix that has more beat to it, while Kiyoko tries to put all her concentration onto the right moves and into keeping up. She tries her hardest not to think about the boy one storey down, the new things he did with his body, or the fact that he never ever spoke a word of this hobby to the team at large.

*~*~*

For days afterwards, Kiyoko watches him in a daze. He doesn’t look any different, doesn’t talk or walk or move any different. Tanaka is the volleyball player she knows and tries to stay away from. In none of his behaviour is a hint to the languid moves, the touching himself, the wish to be seen dancing by a large group, admired and shouted at. No girl Kiyoko knows on the school ever looked at him longingly, wanted to talk to him, or even acknowledge him. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, heard her friends call him ‘Ryuu-kun’, she would have thought Tanaka had a twin brother. 

At the court, he’s all about being a tough guy proclaiming a loud behaviour. At the moment, he was pushing Narita and Kinoshita forward, each of his arm having so much strength, the two of them had troubles resisting. Not only did his push come in physical form; his verbal push yells at them, loud enough to be heard outside the gym, and he barks laughter towards the ceiling. He communicates through his body, jumping up and down, from side to side, waiting for the ball. It doesn’t seem so weird to Kiyoko as it first has been, the knowledge of Tanaka doing so much more outside of the school building, and using his limbs for more than just spiking and blocking. Still there’s a huge difference, one that Kiyoko cannot help but resist wanting to know more of. She looks at Tanaka 99% more than usual or than would seem necessary. Keeping it low key and unnoticeable, not needing anyone wondering why she has an interest in this loud mouth boy who had been on her tail since week 9 of coming to Karasuno. 

He hadn’t seen her that day. Kiyoko had snuck away from the hall, hidden in the upstairs room for her session of jazz dance, and snuck out again, always on the look out if he’d be there, or if someone mentioned him. On Sundays mornings, she was more aware of the streets leading up to the place, always on the watch if he would come around a corner and appear. Friday evenings and Sundays were for beginner’s ballet, something Kiyoko had a lot of interest in, even though she wasn’t going to pursue it anymore than her other dance outings. 

In the week following her first eye full, she saw him dance again. Not where it first happened, but in a corridor at school. Between the end of classes and the start of club activities was a short amount of time, and Kiyoko had gone to get something from Takeda’s office. Passing the not so quiet corridor, Kiyoko opens the door leading to it, and peeks around the wooden barrier. Still dressed in his school uniform, trouser pipes rolled up at the ankles and his volleyball shoes showing, Tanaka does a series of steps, tapping the sole of his feet with his hands, then clapping in front of him. Kiyoko counts the tact, then watches Tanaka’s face, pulled in concentration. 

“Shit,” he whispers, then takes out a small device, presses buttons on it. Just then Kiyoko notices the small headphones cable, leading from the device to earbuds stuck in Tanaka’s ears. He closes his eyes in concentration. It’s the same thing he does during matches too, when he needs to find his focus. His thumb hovers over the device, then taps it, puts it back into his pocket, and starts over. The steps are followed by a single spin, his jacket flying open and flapping up like wings, while his arms swinging above his head, flat hands close to his head. He walks to the side, one leg behind the other, then spins on one foot. One hand goes to the seam of his trousers, and he pulls his black shirt loose and upwards, the hem sliding over the front of his chest. Kiyoko’s eyes stare at his hard stomach, rolling, hips moving from one side to the other.

Kiyoko notices how dry her lips are, and swallows. Tanaka’s voice hums louder than just a whisper, singing ‘A- yo’ and something else she doesn’t understand. Her focus lies more on the sway in his shoulders, pulling one side up, then the other, before his whole spine follows the movement, down to his rear. She has to pull herself away from the door, close it as to not let Tanaka hear it over his music. Behind the glass, she cannot see him, only his silhouette. Yet her heart beats like crazy, and she swallows. Gripping her bag tight, Kiyoko makes her way to the club room. Stalking the ground quite not so composed or lady like, Kiyoko opens the door, puts her bag down, and tries to calm herself.

“Kiyoko-san?”

Blinking back to reality, Kiyoko turns her head to Hitoka, who stands wavering insecure in the doorway. Kiyoko pushes her hair back, greets the girl who doesn’t dare to take another step forward into the club room to change. She inquires. “What it is, Hitoka-chan?”

“Oh, nothing!” Hitoka says, coming in slow, as if to not aggravate Kiyoko. “It’s just… you looked so lost in thought. I’ve never seen you like this, so...”

Kiyoko’s brow furrow a little, then she checks the clock ticking above Hitoka head. She had gone to Takeda’s after her classes, and had come here approximately ten minutes ago. Ten minutes where she has stood stock still and unmoving, her thoughts a mile away. She tries to ensure Hitoka it’s nothing big, and they laugh it off quickly. Nonetheless, Hitoka is quicker in her Karasuno sports uniform than Kiyoko, who cannot help but look at the questionable quest of putting her left foot into her right sneaker. Hitoka stares on too, has an outward schock for staring at her senpai like that, and waves her hands like mad. Hitoka is cute as she blabbers about how it happens to her all the time. Kiyoko tries not to blush, waits until Hitoka is out of the door, then thinks of Tanaka’s taut torso, and blushes either way. 

When she walks out, her eyes are half deaf to the boys filling out of their own club room, all changed for practice. The energetic and ambitious part of the first years are up front, followed by Asahi and Nishinoya. Laughing loudest, proudest, and being scolded for it by Ennoshita, is Tanaka, whose hands are busy putting his shirt into his training shorts. Kiyoko comes to a stand still watching him, ignoring Ennoshita, and everyone who follows out after him, as they greet her. She watches the back of a bald head, fingers scratching it as if the look of her eyes burn into the skin. The air around her is crisp, the smell of dried, red leaves all around her. She also smells the dance hall, and hears the rap music. She follows, her feet wobbly, her knees a little weak. Kiyoko’s heart beats in her throat, and she has a hard time swallowing the nervousness taking over her entire being. 

Tsukishima is the last to walk out and closes the door behind him, then looks at Kiyoko. She registers his presence, that he wants to say something, so she waves him off and tells him to go, or he’d be late for practice. Tsukishima inclines his head, then strides to the stairway down. Kiyoko grips her Campus notebook tight, her fingers wrinkling the pages. 

Once he is out of sight, Kiyoko remembers her first crush, and it was not as overwhelmingly hot as this. Breathing out, she collects herself, wanting to follow the boys to the gymnasium. Her eyes take notice of something near her, and she scoops to pick up a leaf flown in front of the club room. She peeks inside, then goes in, looking for Tanaka’s bag. Finding the music device, Kiyoko turns it on, half knowing she might not find what she searches for.

‘Last played’ pops up on the tiny screen, and she puts the earbuds loosely in her ears, then presses play. She has no idea what is being sung on the beat of the song. Kiyoko writes down the name of the singer and the song anyway, eager to find out the lyrics too fast for her ears to understand. She wants to know the exact song for the moment she fell in love with Tanaka.

*~*~*

Kiyoko holds her hand in front of her mouth, whispering ‘oh my god’ as she scrolls down the translation. Her feet are on her chair, knees drawn up, and she holds her chin between the small space her knees leave empty. Eyes widening the more she sees and tries to translate. While she copies and pastes pieces of sentences or simple words, her lashes flutter, blinking at the profanities highlighted. She’s never seen a mass of curse worse in such quantity as in this song. Leaning towards the screen, she tries to spell one out loud. Her parents do not speak English well, which is why Kiyoko feels safe in doing so. 

“Bet you do want to- _Oh_.” Kiyoko blinks away from the screen, back into her chair, while her mouse pointer still highlights the word ‘fuck’. Her online dictionary can hardly make sense of the entirety of the lyrics, but some of them are easy enough to understand with her level of comprehension and vocabulary. It’s enough to make her feel warm in the face. ‘Azealia’ is a nice enough first name, it reminds Kiyoko of the flower. Yet her song, ‘212’, has nothing flowery or tender to offer. 

Scrolling to end and re-reading some of the previously seen lyrics, she thinks of Tanaka’s steps and clapping. ‘What are you gon’ do when I appear? When I premier?’ It’s exactly what Kiyoko hasn’t been able to wrap her mind around, ever since she saw Tanaka’s dancing. Half of her wants to give Tanaka a speech, how it's irresponsible for him and his dance teacher to play this kind of music in front of young girls, even though they wouldn’t understand it or even care what the lyrics mean.

And the other half of her, taking over, wants to see how he exhibits himself on this beat. Forgetting herself and not caring how it may reflect on her later, Kiyoko takes her phone off the table and sends a mail to one of her friends from dancing. She asks about the ‘baldy kid’ and for a second looks over the added text ‘having those sick moves’, then decides she’s nowhere in the league of using that kind of expression, and replacing it by ‘we saw the other day’. 

What follows is one text that details Tanaka’s schedule at the dance hall. Eight other mails follow in rapid succession. The rest of her friends ask where the sudden interest comes from, if she’s also a fan now, and if she wants to know anything about Ryuu-kun, why, all she needs to do is ask. It makes Kiyoko’s stomach do a weird flip, to be included like this. At the same, she tries not to react too uneasy to the ‘We will happily tell you anything!’. 

Kiyoko stares at the incoming messages one by one, starting to feel empty inside. All of a sudden, she came to the realization that she didn’t know as much about Tanaka as she thought she did. Kiyoko thought she had him all figured out, as just some loud yankee lacking brightly coloured hair, who went after girls as if he was a dog and they were the meat. Now she has to deal with receiving more information from these girls. Girls who don’t even go to the same school as him, or don’t even come to his matches, or probably only know about this one passion he has. She doesn’t like the way it makes her feel, and Kiyoko rams her head back on her chair headrest. Her feet wiggle, a tingling in them she identifies as a feeling she can’t yet name.

There’s a foul feeling to it, once she has to ignore, starting when she shuts her phone and lets it drop to her desk again. Kiyoko taps away on her laptop, first looking for ‘I’m Legit’, and then ‘212’ on a streaming site. No one here, no one to give her a weird look, no one to know. She creates a personal playlist, only containing the two songs for now. When the site asks her to choose a title, Kiyoko changes her keyboard to English, and types away, not caring how ridiculous this all is in the first place. She laughs about it, shaking her head. It’s so silly.

However, she might as well indulge, and presses play on the newly created ‘Dragon’ playlist.

Listening to her new playlist the next morning, Kiyoko sighs. Her morning had been quite the unusual one. Although she was a teenager like everyone else she knew, Kiyoko hadn’t experienced urges quite as much as those in her surroundings. Maybe it was because she’s been around mostly guys. 

Although they tried not to show it when she was present, the talk about girls and sometimes even sex got to her ears. She knew that Azumane is a virgin, that Sugawara had gone to second base when he was 16, and that Sawamura is the only one who had a girlfriend, with whom he went all the way. (He kept it a secret, but Kiyoko had a hunch who the girl was). Ennoshita always made absolutely sure neither Kiyoko or Hitoka would hear him, but he hadn’t been careful enough. Once during a break, he refilled his water bottle together with Yamaguchi, while Kiyoko had wanted to turn the corner and meet them, she stood still. Then, she had heard him talk to the first year about a girl he liked. Both Yamaguchi and Kiyoko had gotten red ears from hearing about Ennoshita’s feelings (mostly the baser ones). All in all, Kiyoko had heard some stuff. 

The frequency of sexual conversation had increased when she was around the girls from dancing. She found out that they tended to be more explicit and raunchy. It made her laugh, mostly. Yet when the girls she was closest to talked about masturbation, Kiyoko had a hard time keeping her face straight and uncaring. Truth was, although she’d been curious and had tried some stuff, she hardly had strong desires to do it on a weekly, or as some girls confessed, a daily basis. 

Kiyoko had kept her hands clean this particular morning, but nonetheless, after she woke up from a rather lascivious dream containing just her and Tanaka (and an alarming absence of clothes), she had woken up embarrassed, and her underway dirtied. In her own room, she could get as red as she wanted. Walking to school made things better, as the wind blew in her face and cooled her off. The music empowers her in her walk, and she’s so into it that she steps on a small wall, then dances. She doesn’t dare turns, and jumps off before trying something stupid (as well as checking that no one had seen her moment of weakness).

Further on, a figure is moving. She doesn’t think much of it, until the recognizable bald head comes into better view. It’s weird, seeing Tanaka in the wild and open. There’s no one else on their way this early and in the neighborhood of their school. She wonders why he came here, then sees two other girls. They stand still, but move to another set of a dance routine. When Tanaka stops, they start, and it seems like he’s giving them pointers. There’s no music playing, and she only hears Tanaka’s kind instructions.

Curiosity gets the better of Kiyoko. Although she would put it out of her head all day, she’s intent to know what this is about. 

She phones Michiru, a good friend from her jazz group. Michiru hadn’t been there when Kiyoko saw Tanaka dance for the first time, and she asks her friend if she ever went to the big dance hall where all the hip hop kids are. Michiru says yes, and it’s settled that they’ll go watch next time before their own group starts. A flurry of emails come in, and apparently half their jazz group wants to join.

Kiyoko sneaks behind the small group of three, then runs the rest of the way to school. She doesn’t rush to change, her head scattered, and once again tries to put on her clothes backwards, the right sleeve onto her left arm. When she files out at last, Kiyoko stands right in front of Tanaka, who is happy and surprised to see her so early. They do their usual act where he compliments her and she ignores him. 

“Kiyoko-san, the pony of your head is the other way today! Very gorgeous as well.” Tanaka is close to her, but Kiyoko’s eyes are focus on what her fingers are doing, and as of now, they’re trying not to shake too much. Her pony must have had switched sides on her sprint earlier. She turns away from him, the anticipated ‘She ignored me~!’ trailing behind her. 

*~*~*

A whole week after seeing Tanaka’s other side for the first time, Kiyoko finds herself in front of the same dance hall again. The dance hall Kiyoko infiltrates is huge. She guesses that it is three volleyball courts wide. The mass of people coming to this class, half an hour early to hang out to talk or to show off the newest things, obscure her quite enough to let her mind be at peace. Sitting at the far end of the left side, she holds her knees up to her chest, ready to hide behind them at any given moment. Around Kiyoko sit a few friends from her jazz class, some girls from ballet, and the other girls she met recently, in a half moon circle. Each and every eye has the boys in a good sight. 

Tanaka doesn’t play around a lot. His warming up consists of various routines Kiyoko has seen him do during school time. He rolls his head, eyes closed, and his legs, knees to the hips, are spread wide in a v-shape, his hands resting above his knees. Kiyoko’s eyes cannot help being drawn to him. 

As it turns out, the girls from jazz had taken their time before to check out the people dancing here before or after class. One of them was in the ballet group Kiyoko followed as well, and once they found out about her ‘mission’, they had trailed in after Kiyoko. Hearing that someone as reserved as Kiyoko had shown interest to take a better look inside the urban and hip hop dance hall, they were all excited to come. As it was, those who hadn’t seen him in action, had all heard stories about the baldy who bears a bright smile and is kind to all girls. Hating the fact that the term fits them, Kiyoko regards the people around her as a sort of fan club. They’re not the only ones who are watching Tanaka, and are waiting for him to be done warming up and to start dancing. 

The song from last time she’d seen him in the corridor starts playing. A few girls standing close to the boys are trying to dance to it, failing in either timing or (Kiyoko cannot phrase it any other way) sensuality to express themselves like Tanaka had done. There’s a slightly older, slender, darker skinned woman, who watches them, then shows the moves and claps along with the beat. Kiyoko stares at the afro hair, as it bounces due the steps or floats as she slides.

“She’s a _haafu_ , you know? Her mother came from America to serve her, and fell in love with her father, near Fukuoka. Akemi-sensei is really patient, and fosters talent a lot. Her mother was a sergeant in the army and danced as a hobby, so she taught that to Akemi-sensei as well.” Mayumi tells Kiyoko, her voice full of pride. She’s one of the students Kiyoko met the other day, and who likes to breakdance. Her clothes are revealing, just a shirt and shorts, her feet wearing wrap-around kind of things Kiyoko had never seen before. “She said it was also important for us girls to dance harder and more aggressive, while she taught the boys to move in a more feminine fashion.” 

“Mhnn! A proper symbiose, she called it. To know both sides of the coin and use it to your body’s advantage.” Noriko chimed in, one of the ballet dancers, petite in stature but energetic in spirit. They all turn to Tanaka, who stands on one foot, tip-toeing, checking his balance while his arms move forward and his other leg kicks off the ground. The shirt isn’t gone yet, but Kiyoko can easily remember and imagine the muscles beneath, moving as he dances. The girls all lose their minds over it in audio, while Kiyoko keeps it to herself. She’s not yet ready for the feelings fluttering over her skin, tightest and hardest where her pulse thrums. 

When the part Kiyoko had walked in on as he danced in the school corridor comes on, Tanaka’s stance widens, and his body flows into the routine in a heartbeat. Even more sensual, he takes the hem of his shirt, and slides his hand holding the hem over his body, all towards the collarbone. The girls next to Kiyoko lose their minds, giggling, and wiggling their toes. Kiyoko can only make sure she’s still breathing. Tanaka’s head falls back, and his hips move forward, enjoying himself far too much for Kiyoko’s liking. 

Even when he stops, it doesn’t help. Tanaka goes over to one of the girls, asking for her hand. He has his own out, bows a little, being courteous. The girls there and around Kiyoko all giggle, while Kiyoko tries her hardest not to feel anything at the sight. She’s not jealous in the least, but she feels another kind of faint emptiness in her fingertips. 

It’s because she knows that if she’d allow for it to happen, for anything to blossom between her and Tanaka, he would treat her well. If she would, by any chance of bodily dysfunction or damage to the brain, give even the slightest hint of having an attraction, Tanaka would come after her for real. Not just this ‘she’s pretty’, but actually having a chance to be together. It’s also the same, vain thought that keeps her grounded, her behind glued to the floor, her toes wiggling in her shoes but not outwardly joining in when the other girls do become louder. She has no right to think like that, as if she’s someone better. As if Tanaka should kiss her feet. Kiyoko is not like that, and she wouldn’t want to use Tanaka’s admiration and crush on her as an advantage. 

“Those girls are so lucky. I wish I could at least dance urban, too!” Hitomi, one of the girls from Kiyoko’s ballet class, sighs dreamily. Kiyoko wonders if, all this time, she had been a prude, if she had been too defensive against this boy who is one year her junior. His hands seem gentle when they touch the other girls on decent places. They giggle a lot as if he’s teasing or tickling them. Kiyoko watches how Tanaka’s hands immediately release them, as if he did something wrong, only to be teased instead. It all looks so easy and natural, and all too much like something Kiyoko wouldn’t be opposed to. 

Knowing she can somehow do modern dance, for Kiyoko, hip hop is still a too high a hurdle to even attempt. She understands Hitomi, who sighs again. They watch on as the practice turns Tanaka into a teacher instead of a learner.

How well he treats other girls shows in his respect and care for them. Although she is an amateur, Kiyoko can see how they’re making the wrong steps, upsetting the rhythm. Some of the lesser trained even step on Tanaka’s feet. He takes it all in stride, waves their apologies away, a big smile on his face at all times. One by one, they leave his side, letting someone else try and do the routine for the female part. Having seen enough, Kiyoko is the first one out, letting her friends know she’ll meet them later. They’re still dazzled, looking at what goes on right before them. Kiyoko tries to tell herself that she isn’t like them, that Tanaka doesn’t dazzle her.

She thinks of him, and how quick he is to lose his shirt on the court when he has scored, or when he rolls his long sleeves up when he’s ready to fight. Here and when Kiyoko saw him practicing elsewhere, he’s much more subtle, hinting more than showing. It’s all the more fascinating and arousing. The thought alone has Kiyoko’s mind being absent to what her body is doing, and her toe catches on the stairs as she goes up, making her fall. She mumbles, gets up, checks that no one saw, and disappears into the nearest girl’s bathroom. Here she can sigh, thump the back of her head against the door in worry, and wonder when boys became this kind of crazy material in her life.

It was probably just Tanaka being this crazy force of nature.

“Ah, no. Our sessions is starting!” 

Kiyoko is quick on her feet to follow the rest of the ballet group, and even quicker to hide behind them as some people watch them leave. Kiyoko ducks her head, invisible behind the group of people as they exit the dance hall. It’s all giggles and hands held before mouths as they go upstairs.

Most of the girls have already changed, but like Hitomi, Kiyoko hasn’t. They are fast to pull up the blush-pink tights. As she looks at her feet, Kiyoko wonders if this is the colour her face makes when she looks at Tanaka. 

Shaking the thought off, she finishes dressing, then joins Hitomi into the ballet hall at the bar. They arrive just before their instructor, Yoshida-sensei, comes inside. She gives the girls a stern look, as if she knows they’d done something that has nothing to do with ballet. 

“Concentrate!” She says, her usual soft voice with its sharp undertone. Like the rest of the girls in front of her, Kiyoko’s spine straightens as the voice cuts through the silence, while she relaxes her shoulder. Yoshida positions herself with both hands on the bar, her back to the rest. Without being told what they have to do, the group of 20 girls and a few boys turn around to do the same. They start the exercises to loosen their toes and their limbs. Although she’s done this a few times, rising to the relevé becomes a struggle. Keeping the knees straight, Kiyoko rises to stand on her toes, while facing herself in the mirror trying not to smile. 

It’s unmanageable. Imagining Tanaka next to her, Kiyoko wonders if he could do this too. If Tanaka had tried out other dances, before finding his comfort and talent in hip hop. Toes shivering under the pressure, Kiyoko’s mouth presses together. A second behind the people to her right, she lowers her soles back to the floor, starting to do the tendus like everybody else. Warming up her hips and knees, Kiyoko settles into the exercises. 

Now that she gives it more thought, a nagging suspicion comes into Kiyoko’s mind. What if Tanaka could be here? What if he could watch her, the same way she watches him. The ballet hall is smaller, and Yoshida-sensei would _grand jeté_ anyone who dares to interrupt the class, especially male onlookers. Instead of feeling unfocused, the thought of Tanaka seeing her dance makes Kiyoko’s motions more fluid, more beautiful. She doesn’t see her mirror image anymore, and the rest of the students disappear as well. Kiyoko loses her grip on the bar. 

Her right hand’s fingers barely brush the wooden bar, when Kiyoko, eyes looking at nothing, bows her torso forward a little, her working leg lifting up behind her. Yoshida wanted them to end today’s lesson to at least try and get the first arabesque, but Kiyoko follows the music playing in the back, one arm lifted towards the ceiling. She _knows_ Tanaka isn’t here, that there’s no one to show off too. But watching him being lost into the music so much, Kiyoko can only follow suit as she holds the position, then returns to stand on her two feet once more. 

The hall is quieter than normally. Yoshida-sensei’s face is impassive, but a small wrinkle at the corner of her mouth indicates a small smile. Kiyoko wills her face into not blushing, and she returns to the starting warm up, not checking the surprised faces all around her. Brushing her hair behind her ear, all she can think about is Tanaka’s arms crossed over his chest, and his proud smile crossing his happy face. 

Maybe one day, he could see her like this.


	2. Bounteous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiyoko finds out more and more about Tanaka, which just adds to her developing crush on the wild boy. Seeing him drives the poor child to practice the hip hop moves at home, and she becomes freer in her own dance styles as well. 
> 
> Then, the unavoidable happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I'm honest, this is basically a Tanaka worship fic. This boy deserves so much more love and care and kindness, and I'm more than willing to provide. I really love writing about his character from Kiyoko's point of view, as well as the impressions she gets from others.
> 
> Also I totally forgot to mention this earlier! The fic is obviously inspired by 'I'm Legit' by Ciara and Nicki, but it came down on me when I listened to the song in a Tanaka playlist on 8tracks~ It had some female hip hop and I really liked that *v*

two of acknowledging it. It’s Thursday, the school week soon over. By now, Kiyoko has tried putting her misguided affection off as something stupid without a base, that the surprise had more effect to it. However, the more she fought it, the more she gave thought to the whole mess, and to Tanaka. 

He hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, which reassures Kiyoko. His daily compliments came as easily from his lips as ever, and were just as easily ignored by Kiyoko as she walks by, looking straight ahead. Whenever she had to move past him, however, a tumult started in her gut, working all the way up to her chest. She kept it at bay, shielding herself using a noteblock, as if the mere presence of it would keep it all from spilling. Being close to Tanaka became nigh impossible these days, as her head was filled by one nonsensical scenario after the other. Her heart would beat faster when she made accidental eye contact, or if he’d came too close in his endeavor to say how beautiful she looks. The admiration he held for her, admiration she resisted using an iron-hard facade and a genuine non-care, now made her knees weak and her skin heat up, tingling all over. 

Taking care of filling the water bottles, and Hitoka helping her carry them, Kiyoko remembers one night where she couldn’t sleep, and had to tell herself that she only had to endure a few more months. She would graduate, go to university, and leave her crush behind. Three minutes later she’d turn to the side and think of the possibilities, how easy it be to just confess. Tanaka likes her, after all, and he’d be easily wrapped around her finger. Turning to the other side yielded a counter-argument at to how cruel and low it would have been to use his long-time crush on her like this. Huffing and rolling all the way onto her stomach, she got angrier, wished she’d never seen his other side. 

The problem lay, as she had blushed into her pillow, in that the more she accepts the fact that she’d fallen for the ‘dancer’ side, the ‘wing spiker’ part she’d known all along became more and more attractive to her as well. 

Seeing him at least four times a week during volleyball made this process of acknowledging her crush quicken. She and Hitoka carry the bottles back inside and lay them down for everyone to take when Ukai allows them a break. Hitoka takes her notepad out, writing some of the instructions coach Ukai yells down, adding her own explanation to it. 

Yet again, Kiyoko was captivated. The loud noises Tanaka made during spikes, either in the approach or after he succeeded, weren’t annoying to her ears anymore. She started cheering for him, quietly inside her head, and had to hold back clapping when he pulled off excellent spikes. Nishinoya comes up to Tanaka, and they do their brotherly arm hugs, Tanaka lifting Nishinoya off the floor and swinging him because their connections today are off the hook. It’s impossible not to imagine what it would feel like if Tanaka lifted her, watched her face, behaving as if she’s worth everything on this world. Kiyoko watches Tanaka as he gives his other teammates smiles so wide and proud his face could burst, and she has to turn her head away. To focus on something else her head would spin from the warmth she felt. 

Tanaka hadn’t just danced his way into her heart. He had kicked down the door, yelled ‘Here I am!’, and presented this whole package Kiyoko suddenly wanted all to herself.

Not considering it for a second, Kiyoko doesn’t think she would be able to tell him that she knows. Partly because she doesn’t know how he’d react. Just like his hobby is a whole new world of exploration and new things to her, Kiyoko cannot calculate how he’d react. The other part of her has half an idea as to why he keeps it a secret, the same reasoning drifting to her own mind. Dancing isn’t embarrassing, but letting the team know that she does? Impossible. Just like it is for Tanaka. On top of it, she _can_ picture how the team would react to this tidbit of information. They wouldn’t believe it, or maybe even make fun of him. It’s so much harder to imagine Tanaka dancing, after all. 

The team on Tanaka’s side of the net got back into position, but not before Tanaka and Nishinoya low-five each other. For a while, Kiyoko wonders how well Nishinoya knows him, and if this whole thing was even a secret to him, Tanaka’s best friend. Reflexively, she deflects a ball blocked her way, and it reminds her to keep the attention on the court. 

Her eyes zero in on Sawamura, who claps his hands and tells Kageyama that his toss was excellent. Ukai tells them to take a break, and Kiyoko’s eyes lower to the ground, listening to Tanaka and the other second years approach them first. 

It’s just a crush, she has to tell herself, time and time again. Until it sinks in how what she’s feeling is slowly but surely affect her heart.

“Ah, Shimizu, would you mind..?” 

She looks up from her daze, keeping any sound of surprise bottled down deep inside of her. She regards Sawamura, who seems nervous about something, his eyes shifting. Kiyoko looks around, seeing the boys undress and switch into their uniform shirts. She averts her eyes away from Tanaka before things get dangerous and half-naked over his side. Sawamura asked her something, but for the life of her, she has no idea what. To her right, Hitoka is carrying way too many folding chairs for one person as small as her.

“Huh?” The sound she tried to keep back utters out at last, and she holds the clipboard she had pressed to her chest previously in front of her. Although her eyes see the words ‘Practice match against Seizan high school, 5 o’clock’, she is not understanding it quite yet. Was that today?

“Please excuse me.” Kiyoko acts as if she’s writing something down, then walks off. In fact, she does write the word ‘dumb idiot’ on the sheet of paper, then crosses it out and sets her clipboard down, to help Hitoka. She glances to the clock and sees that they’re still early, but apparently (as Hitoka informs her), they were going to have a small food break before the match. Once everything is set up, Kiyoko ushers Hitoka to join the boys already, promising that she’d follow soon.

First, she gets the extra bananas from the neighbourhood association team. They had dropped them off in the morning during an early practice. Back then, Kiyoko knew another school’s team would come in the afternoon. She had made a mental note of it, even written it down. It was all on her clipboard ‘bring the nutrients down by 4:30 pm’. But the clipboard had acted as her shield, and she had neglected to check it even once. Now, she rushes down the stairs, bringing her team the much needed powerfood. 

Hitoka helps in distributing them, and they all thank Kiyoko. Settling down against a wall, Kiyoko breathes out, and peels her banana. Glancing down at it, she halts putting it into her mouth. Never before did she had problems like this, but now the term ‘phallic’ doesn’t leave her head. Becoming angry, Kiyoko checks if Tanaka is busy eating.

At his end, things are worse. Under the keen eyes of half the team, Tanaka dips his banana in a jar. Kiyoko squints her eyes, reading the packaging sleeve. It’s English, and she can make out the butter part.

“...That’s is mildly disgusting.” Tsukishima says, who retracts his feet from where they were near Tanaka beforehand. Yamaguchi and Kageyama sit next to him, and they all watch how the tip of Tanaka’s banana is coated in peanut butter. The imagery isn’t lost on Kiyoko, whose mouth opens, and she starts eating her banana at last. Hitoka gives her a pack of apple juice, given from a box Ukai got them from the store. She all but punches her straw through the package, wondering when her life turned out to be so filled with sinful thoughts. The apple juice is refreshing, and she calms a little. 

“Shut up, Tsukishima. It’s good for your body, ya know? Everyone in sports eats this!” Tanaka bellows, then chomps down on his food. Tsukishima looks away, Ennoshita makes a comment, and Nishinoya dips his own banana in the jar to try it for himself. All Kiyoko can look at is the smudge of peanut butter at the corner of Tanaka’s mouth corner. The problematic imagery changes to something just as bad; Kiyoko finds it cute, and wants to lick it off, to clean him.

She wants to kiss him. To put her hand on his buzzcut and feel the sensation of it against her palm and fingers. To hold him, tell him to stop moving and be still for once, and kiss his lips. 

As if he can read her mind, Tanaka looks up, holding her gaze. He absent-mindedly licks the corner of his mouth, and Kiyoko finds herself inhaling the apple juice into her system. Her body doesn’t even feel strange anymore, as if the fact that she wants to kiss Tanaka is only a natural act in the chain. She glances away, her feet pushing together, the tips of her shoes brushing. 

Tanaka also got out of the moment, and he now holds a piece of banana coated in peanut butter to Tsukishima’s unwilling mouth. 

“Open up goddamnit, this is good for you, bastard!” 

“Please stop it, Tanaka-san.” Tsukishima holds Tanaka’s wrist on a distance from his mouth, and refuses to even look at the hand holding the food. Kiyoko’s chest warms up again, and not just because Tanaka watches over his underclassmen. Also because she’d wish she could reach over and take his wrist, to guide his fingers holding the sliced fruit to her mouth, and eat it. Maybe even lick-

“A-ah! They’re here already!” Narita exclaims, as he collects their trash in the box Ukai brought. Tanaka and Tsukishima are still bickering. In the end, Tanaka puts the rejected food into his own mouth, then slaps Tsukishima’s head from the side. 

“Youw’r ungwuateful!” Tanaka says, not swallowing the mouthful. Tsukishima gives him an open-mouthed stare, while Nishinoya pipes in the translation.

“He says you’re ungrateful!” As Nishinoya puts his hands on his hips as he laughs, Tanaka swallows his food. His shoulders roll, a sight Kiyoko remembers from the first time she saw him dance. 

“Come on, Tsukishima, let’s fucking roll!” Tanaka holds his hand out to him, and after looking up as if he would like to reject that too, Tsukishima sighs, takes the hand, and lets himself be pulled up by a yelling Tanaka. Kiyoko reminds herself in time that she has a job to do as manager, and leaves the boys to themselves as she bows to the guests. Behind her, an even louder force yells their welcome. 

She and Hitoka stow the box away in a corner where it bothers no one then divide the duties. Hitoka offers to do the scoreboard together with a first year from the other team. Kiyoko takes her seat beside the coach and the advisor, sighing as she looks at her clipboard and flips the page having the crossed out ‘dumb idiot’ away. She can worry about how bad she has it for Tanaka another day. 

*~*~* 

It’s Friday evening and the ‘other day’ turns out to be 24 hours later, when Kiyoko finds herself in running shorts and a tank top. She doesn’t have to worry about volleyball as the boys have a rest day before a match tomorrow. She stands in front of the bathroom mirror, checking her side view. Bathroom door closed, earphones on and her music device in her hand, Kiyoko presses play. Even though there’s absolutely no one here to witness it, she feels awkward bending her knees, and making her hips move to the beat and according to how she saw other girls in music videos dance to this song. Pressing her lips together becomes a nervous habit, and she soon turns the volume up to let it drown out her worries and insecurities. 

There’s nothing wrong with her body and, hell, if other girls and boys can do it, so can she. Moving her arms to the rhythm, Kiyoko gradually falls into the mood. As Minaj’s rap starts, Kiyoko slides her feet to the side, facing the mirror when she turns, and practices the routine she’d seen a few times by now. Enjoying herself and the self-indulging ego boost, she stands on her toes mixing in some ballet, sliding to the side in small steps. 

The music takes away the worries and craziness of the past, and she understands how Tanaka can make his body flow, why the girls want to be his partner so badly. Soaring from her heart, Kiyoko understands also why she wants to dance with Tanaka. Something prideful takes leap in her toes, and she jumps to the side, balancing herself with her arms. During the routine, there’s conflict between the girl and the boy part, the girl pushing her elbows out to get him off her. Kiyoko follows these motions, but not too harshly, as she wouldn’t mind if Tanaka would get to near.

Kiyoko opens her eyes, missteps, and blushes, but also has learned to smile when she makes mistakes. She tries the routine a few times, excluding the things she can’t do, and adding in the things that fit her more or less. 

Her phone rings, which Kiyoko doesn’t hear but only sees. She pauses the music and rips the earbuds off, then quickly answers the phone. 

“Yes, hello?” Kiyoko tries to breathe evenly, to keep the evidence of what she just did out of her voice. The girls from her modern dance group wanted to get milkshakes before practice, and wouldn’t want Kiyoko to miss out. They arrange a time and station to meet up. Kiyoko looks at herself in the mirror, a healthy blush on her cheeks, her outfit already perfect to move out of the house and to the dance center. 

The milkshake might cool her head a little. 

*~*~* 

The brainfreeze Kiyoko had and laughed about affected her for long. Her friends brought her to the, by now infamous, dance hall, shoved her in, and took their old spot. She felt the giggliness quiet down, as Kiyoko settled back into the ‘be invisible’ mode. 

Kiyoko tries to ignore how colour matched she and Tanaka are today. He wears a grey tank top, black baggy shorts rolled up to the knees, and his black volleyball shoes. He wears an orange sweatband on his wrist, and a necklace bounces on his chest. Kiyoko touches the charm she wears around her wrist, looking down at the smaller sweatband she wears. It had crows on it, and she couldn't resist buying it. Her clothes consist of a black long sleeve, rolled up to her elbows, and grey tights, ending in black socks which go up over her calves. Someone in her class once told her that Korean couples match up their clothes like that, too, wearing the same colours or the same style, if not all at once. If only she had more of that ice cold milkshake to hold against her head and calm down already.

Meanwhile, the rest of the hall becomes awestruck. Some are even speechless. Tanaka and his friends perform a series of flips and crazy handstands, some of the younger ones walking like goofs and trying to keep their balance. Tanaka kicks his feet into the air, creating some sort of shapes, and he twists his legs before unfolding them and coming back on his feet. There’s applause and some English words being thrown at him, and he acts all smiley and shy. Kiyoko blinks her eyes, watching how his shoulders shake when he laughs, how his teeth show because he can’t hold back those big smiles, and his eyes close, his head shaking, as if the praise he receives is too much. 

Some of the tougher girls try as well. Tanaka shifts to the younger boys who goofed more than doing actual tricks, and he shows them different breakdance moves. Kiyoko sees him fall only once. Everyone around her agrees he only does that to give other people more confidence, to show that falling is alright, as long as you get up and try again. 

The kindness of it is one of the aspects that create the whole package for Kiyoko. It’s not just his body, what he does through it, it’s how he is with these other people outside their school. He shows such a kind side there as well, and she remembers how he behaves when he’s with the first years. He give them claps on the shoulders, boosts their confidence, and praises them whenever there is something praiseworthy. Even someone like Tsukishima values it. 

Even as it always goes together with a loud voice and even louder laughing, cursing, and generally having a bad boy attitude when it's about strangers, or in front of strangers. Here, he’s a b-boy as well, just a whole other kind. And that, Kiyoko understands, is one the reasons she has such a mystified interest in him, why it keeps being something she thinks of a lot. The unknown.

Unravelling the unknown comes in the form of having a lot of pictures on her phone. Just when she thinks she has her life under control, her dance friends mail her new pictures of Tanaka. They’d silently welcomed her into the ‘fan club’, and are prone to give the new member all sorts of reason to lose her head more and more. The whole disaster had a growing playlist as well, consisting 90% of female rappers and R’n’B singers. There is one pop/trance song on it, the embarrassing title of ‘Big Fat Ass’ something Kiyoko doesn’t like to think off. She only knows how Tanaka does an interesting breakdance routine on it, jumping on his hands, while his legs are in the air. 

Leaving behind what kind of songs she starts to like because of the connecting pictures of Tanaka in her head, she focuses on the current gossip happening from the main big dancehall, nicknamed Hall B. 

“B stands for Badass, like Ryuu-kun!” Michiru had told her, as she too started to wrap her feet in some kind of sandal-like material, ribbons criss-crossing her lower leg. She was borrowing them from one of the Hall B girls, before their modern dance session started. The gossip from the growing group was currently all over, was how Akemi couldn’t get a single girl to get the steps right. Kiyoko had seen the posters for an event, and knew by the buzz in the dance center that Tanaka was supposed to perform for it as well, _if_ they could ever find the proper girl to be his counterpart.

Aside from the gossip, Kiyoko likes the vibe this hall has; before people are focusing on one thing only, they are sharing stories and swapping moves. Kiyoko recognizes the girls Tanaka has danced with before, those who she saw on her way to school. Although they’re better, they are still a step behind. From here, Kiyoko can see their shoulders slump and their wish to pursue the routine and perfect it fall away.

“I also think that, when we talk about Ryuunosuke-kun, isn’t the B also for Bounteous?” Chou says, the girl dressed in her usual get up of butterfly shirt and leggings also with a butterfly pattern. The girls chime in, saying how she’s so smart and uses nice words. The word reflects in an act right before their eyes as well. Tanaka joins the two girls, and they try it together. In the female part is a moment where the two should hold hands, and the girls spins into the male part’s arm. Tanaka shows this, careful not to pound his whole weight on the girl. When he asks her to do it too, he hits his own chest, saying ‘Come!’ and waits.

Here is the problem; the girls are too shy to spin full throttle and ram Tanaka. Kiyoko knows you have to put enough weight on your leg that stops you, to grind your foot into the floor and make your body stop in time as to not bump someone. It’s basic blocker and wing spiker knowledge, something Kiyoko wouldn’t have a problem showing off, either. But it’s not her who is supposed to dance with Tanaka, or indeed, to out herself like that. She excuses herself and leaves the group, under loud protest (which is luckily enough swallowed as Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pound the alarm’ resounds in the hall. Kiyoko makes a mental note to add the sound to her playlist). She wasn’t in the mood to see those girls, who train everyday just to dance with a boy who doesn’t care for them in any romantic way anyway, fail and fail some more trying to get those easier steps right.

It wasn’t as if Kiyoko hadn’t tried, at home, to do what they did. She had seen Akemi’s instructions, and apart of all things that were too fast, too hip hop, or too masculine, Kiyoko had done everything right. In the safety of her own house, in front of her own mirror, that is. She had no interest in making a fool out herself in there, or indeed letting Tanaka know she secretly watched him and had a crush on him. Running away, she learned in the past weeks, she was better at. 

She’s on the stairs when someone follows her and calls her out as ‘Glasses girl!’. One hand on the stairs, Kiyoko turns, meeting the woman named ‘Akemi’. She has toned arms and legs, wears tight clothes with slashes through them, and a few of her tattoos are on display. Although there’s no one else around wearing glasses, Kiyoko gives her a confused expression, hand still on the stair’s railing. 

“Yes, you! You’re from Masada-sensei’s class. I’ve heard you’re very elegant.” Akemi runs up the steps, and Kiyoko feels a bright energy engulfing her, as well as the praise giving her warm cheeks. “Would you mind helping me out, yeah? We’ve got an upcoming event in a month, but sadly none of my girls are able to do the dance as I instruct them. It’s kinda hard, ya know. Plus they’re all a lil’ crushing on my male lead.” Akemi snickers, her shoulders moving as she does. 

If Kiyoko would have an inch of Tsukishima’s personality, she would’ve scoffed and laughed. Instead, she tries to reveal nothing, and nods along. Syncing is quite important, and Kiyoko hadn’t seen anyone be able to do it so far. 

“What I’m trying to ask… Would you like to try it!? I’ve heard great stuff from Masada-sensei about ya, and I think you might be the right person. Plus, you’re totally my male lead’s -Ryuu-kun’s- type. I’m just thrilled to find out what sort of chemistry you guys could have.” Akemi bows forward to get a good look at Kiyoko, then nods again to herself. “Just the kinda girl he’d fall for.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I would be able to.” Kiyoko looks down, stepping backwards on the stairs and trying to avoid falling. She would have liked to get a chance, but as Tanaka has his own reasons to hide his hobby from the team, Kiyoko wouldn’t need him knowing about her. Or indeed, that she has watched him and knows about it for some time. She waves Akemi off, saying it’s no good. “I’ve never danced hip hop before. I’m sure I’d be clumsier than your students. Please excuse me.”

“But!” 

The authority of her mother’s army roots flow into the word, so much that Kiyoko’s body freezes, her head turning without her being able to stop it. Akemi doesn’t look angry, however. She still looks as kind as before. Her long lashes flutter, her hands up in ecstatic movements. 

“It’d be so cool if we had an elegant, gorgeous girl like you going completely crazy,” her eyes go skywards, as if she’s referring to her god, “and being aggressive on stage. Don’t you like a challenge? I could get it out of you, make you break your own shell. Aren’t you interested in aiming higher than where you are right now?” Her head tilts to the side, and Kiyoko gets the same feeling as when Hinata gets serious. 

Still, the blockade rises up between them, and keeps Kiyoko from saying ‘yes’ wholeheartedly. She avoids being pulled down the stairs, more so because there are also other people in that hall who would see her act as a fool who can’t do anything right. The start of feelings rise up in her chest, making her feet unable to move towards the one person she would want to move, if she’s true to her heart’s desire. 

Shaking her head and apologizing once more, Kiyoko makes a slight run at the top of the stairs, breathing hard and letting the warmth spread over her face. At the changing room, she drinks water to cool down, while butterflies mess up her stomach and head. Taking a deep breath, she wanders over to the mirror, screwing the bottle closed. She’s already in her dance clothes, and regards herself in the mirror.

‘Just the girl he’d fall for.’ Puffing out her cheeks, Kiyoko shakes her head, then walks away to gather her sense of normality and calm. Akemi mentioned challenges, but Kiyoko already dealt with enough of those in her private life already.

*~*~*

The next Friday was disastrous. After speaking to Akemi, things went haywire. All could be traced to the after school club practice, which had driven Kiyoko to the brink of her calm exterior. This week again, they were having an outside team for a match, so Kiyoko and Hitoka prepared everything for it (Kiyoko making doubly sure she would never be so scatterbrained as to forget such a simple task as she had previously). Somewhere behind her, Tanaka was being himself, while Kiyoko did her utmost best to ignore him 10 times more than usual. During this time of ignoring him, she had no problems. The boys undressed right in front of her, things she has seen so many times. This Friday however, some god was testing her patience. 

It’s unbearable. Kiyoko has a hard time understanding why it is so hard to put on a simple shirt. Some deity is not just testing her patience, but also her iron-will as she tries not to be too obvious. Meanwhile, Tanaka has no problems while he prolongs putting on his uniform shirt. He gave the first years a pep talk, while remaining half naked, nothing but his shorts, knee braces, and volleyball shoes covering his body. Ignoring that proves impossible, as Kiyoko’s knee would soon find out. 

Head turning, eyes glaring at a tan body, ripped muscles and all the stuff her daydreams were made off, she glances a second too long at blue bruises. Bruises, she knows, not gotten from volleyball. Their placements were all wrong, and Kiyoko tries to imagine Tanaka doing a one handstand wrong. She remembers the words ‘he does it to show others it’s okay to fall’. As she worries, Kiyoko bumps into the foldable chairs Hitoka had just put on the courtside. The commotion made everyone stare at her, while Hitoka apologizes 40 times a minute. Sawamura and Azumane rush to her side as she lies on the ground, help her to sit up, and check if she is alright.

Which she is. Trying to calm Hitoka down and having created a commotion is better than having anyone notice why she fell, or that she stared. No one seems to suspect a thing, and Kiyoko isn’t hurting either. Her pride took a dent, okay, but nothing else matters as long as Tanaka-

“Kiyoko-san, are you okay?” Tanaka still hasn’t found his uniform shirt. He crouches right beside her, while Sawamura scolds him for crowding on her. Kiyoko doesn’t hear anything else. Her brain short circuits, and she looks down to fake a migraine. Not only does her eyes cross over his crotch, she downright spaces out, remembering how Tanaka once did a one-handed headstand, his legs spread, and he touched his own junk. Michiru had whispered that although it was just dirty, she couldn’t look away. Kiyoko has the same problem as she stares. This only makes the situation worse, as Tanaka’s fingers brush her arm, and his head ducks low to look at her. “Do you need me to bring you to the nurse, Kiyoko-san!?”

His voice is full of worry, which flatters her. Kiyoko shakes her head, imagining taking a piggy back ride on his back. He’d be strong enough for that, capable to move her from A to B, even if B was a far off place. She gets up, accidentally grabbing his arm as support. Tanaka lifts her like a feather, and his fingertips are on her elbows, steadying her. His whole way of touching her is so careful, not as if she’s made of glass, but because he knows he’s crossing a small line here. Sawamura doesn’t push him, but orders everyone to get ready for the match, asking Kinoshita to bring her to a nurse if she needs one. 

Kiyoko breathes better when Tanaka takes a step back, not because she doesn’t like him ( _hell_ ), but because his touch burns through her black track suit. She waves Kinoshita and Hitoka off, puts the foldable chair right, and takes her position as manager, block in hand. 

Things would have been going fine, now, except that Tanaka didn’t listen to Sawamura. He had run out and back in, sloshing a glass of water half over the place, and bringing it to Kiyoko. Water drops crossing the brim, and some even runs down Tanaka’s arm. Kiyoko couldn’t touch him, tried as carefully as possible to relieve him off the glass and take a sip. She mutters a small thanks into the general direction of the floor around Tanaka. At last, and before Sawamura runs him down, Tanaka leaves her side and puts his shirt on, joining the starting line up before another accident happens. 

Two days later, the imagery is still fresh on her mind. It becomes too much, and Kiyoko decides to go to ballet that day. An hour too early, as she finds out when she stands before the building. The mess in her head is taking over in her normal life, and she needs to dance it out as soon as she can. The volleyball club, she was informed, have a running outing to strengthen their endurance. Neither she or Hitoka is needed, as Takeda-sensei and coach Ukai will ensure their hydration during the run. Timing isn’t important, so the managers weren’t needed for that either. 

She needs to dance. Akemi’s words have been running around her head for a few days. She was fine the day she spoke Akemi, as she could lose herself in the music and in following the rhythm with her body. Later at ballet for beginners, Kiyoko had no time to worry about anything except standing on her toes. Afterwards on the same evening, her mind had been free of any offers and idiotic boys and their sexy moves. It was a whole week later on that last Friday which had made everything worse. 

Gripping the bands on her bag tighter, Kiyoko huffs and gets inside. Most halls aren’t in use before a certain time, and she runs up the stairs to get ready. The usual hall where jazz and modern dance is taught is open and closer by than the ballet one, so she goes inside. Her head is around the door for just a second, and then the music blasts. It’s Rihanna, who’s she come to really like. Kiyoko even knows the song, which she hears is a remix. It's the one where the male singer is cut out, and as she stands frozen, it’s on a seemingly endless repeat on the word ‘cake’. 

Tanaka is down in a squat, his knees steady, his throat long and his head bent back a small bit. Arms on his knees, he slowly slides them off, letting them hang at his sides. His knees circle in two different directions, and while he’s on his toes, Tanaka walks, still in the squat. His arms go up and swing in front of him, while he smiles, completely lost in the song. _’So excited’_ blows through the speakers, the ‘cake’ repeat coming on again, as Tanaka slowly rises from his squat. One hand slams on the floor, and he follows it into a fall, performing a breakdance move once explained to Kiyoko as the Windmill. It’s during the part where the male rapper’s part had been cut out, the spin letting his shirt ride up, giving Kiyoko an eye full when the hem of his shirt drops out of this waistband and shows off his torso.

“Whoo!” His feet return to the floor and he exclaims loudly. Unseen, hiding behind the door, Kiyoko knows she should sneak out and hide in the girl’s changing room. But she can’t. Her brain remembers at last how it comes he is here and not running with the rest of the team. The permission slip to miss out on practice due to ‘other obligations’. Hitoka had asked her about it, but without mentioning a name. It must have been Tanaka’s. The very same who now repeats the song from the start, and she wants to see the rest. He rolls his short T-shirt sleeves up, displaying the full length of his muscular arms. 

As Rihanna starts singing, he flexes his biceps to the beat of the song as she sings ‘come on put your name on it’. His knees shake again to the ‘cake’ part, and he goes down, intricately locking his arms across his chest without touching himself. Then his elbows punch the air, and he goes up once more, one punch at a time. He licks his own arm as the ‘I know you wanna bite this’ rolls out of the speakers. Things worsen, as Kiyoko knows the songs too well, is too familiar with the lyrics. This version has a distorted voice singing ‘I wanna lick the icing off’ in a erotic drawl, and Tanaka licks his own lips.

Kiyoko mimics him. ‘It’s not even my birthday’ echoes in the hall, a special effect added to it, and Tanaka loses himself in the song, eyes closed. _’- put this cake in your face’_ Tanaka smiles, same as Rihanna in the song, his eyes closed and his head swaying to the beat. 

The songs skips the male part again, and when it goes to the long ‘cake’ repeat, Tanaka performs backflips on the beat, then jumps the last part, landing on both feet, steady, while a loud scream comes from the stereo. It jolts Kiyoko, her hand pushing the door to side. It swings wide open, then crashes into the wall, alerting the figure to her presence. Tanaka looks at her through the mirror, his minor surprise that someone is there, turns into utter and complete mortification when he sees who it is. He swings around in an instant, pushing his shirt down as if that was the most exposing part of this whole situation,. 

The wish to flee is great, but Kiyoko is held in place by Tanaka’s intense eyes instead. The silence the music left them in becomes deafening to Kiyoko’s ears, like the rush of an airplane. Tanaka’s mouth opens, but no words come forth. She wants to tell him how she knew for a while now, how she admires him, how she thinks his moves are really good and incredible. If she’d talk though, she’d spill every secret thought in her heart, and as she tries to avoid her feelings, her mouth keeps shut. 

“Kiyoko-san… what-?” He doesn’t understand how she is here, how his secret is known by someone from Karasuno. Even when spoken to, Kiyoko cannot reply. She lost her grip on the door, the grip to something that had been grounding her presence. Eyelashes flutter, and she avoids his look. As much as she feels as if she’s floating, Tanaka is stuck to the ground, suddenly immobile. When everything catches up to his brain, panic drips through his voice. 

“Please don’t tell anyone.” He says, gulping, willing his feet into moving. Kiyoko watches his shoes, slowly stepping forward. “I’m begging you. No one, well, Yuu knows but-”

She shakes her head, but cannot bring up a reassuring smile. A finger goes through her hair, fallen to the side of her face, and Kiyoko pushes it behind her hair. She mumbles, and Tanaka’s ‘Huh?’ makes her understand he’s too far away yet, not daring to cross the barrier and come closer. He’s further away, and the hall is big. Of course she has to speak up if she wishes to be heard. 

“I haven’t.” She looks him straight in the eye, one hand a fist in front of her wildly beating heart. “I never did.” 

Realization dawns on Tanaka’s face, his brows furrowing together. He tilts his head, looking to the ground once before back at her. “You’ve known? For a while now?”

It’s impossible to tell him how long. Kiyoko knows exactly the day, the time, the feeling. How her chest became warmer each week as she knew, as she saw new sides of Tanaka. Her playlists grew, the picture collection on her phone too. Although they are her friends, she hadn’t told anyone from the dance groups that she knew him from school, that he’s passionate about playing volleyball, that he has been after her since his first year. 

Music from downstairs begins to roar. It’s a popular trance song, and apparently the hymn of Hall B. ‘Bad’ brings Tanaka forward, his eyes darkening. Kiyoko isn’t afraid, but knows she doesn’t have to be. Her fist drops to her side, and he looks outside the door, past her. 

“No one else is here, Tanaka-kun. I didn’t- they don’t know about me, either.”

His head turns to her instantly. “You dance?”

“Modern dance, mostly. Sometimes jazz, and a little ballet.” She doesn’t blush. It’s her first time telling someone from school, but she trusts Tanaka. She’s learned and saw his kindness in action so many times, and he’s never been bad to her. He feels safe, and after all, she knew about him. 

Tanaka shows a small smile of relief. His confidence soars again and he retreats his upper body back into the smaller dance hall. His thumb directs her gaze to the stereo. 

“I’m practicing something new. We got an event coming in and, well, I’ve been having a hard time finding someone to dance another song with me.” He chuckles, makes it sound as if it's his fault. Kiyoko doesn’t like the apologetic tone in his voice, and moves forward. 

“It’s not your fault, Tanaka-kun. Those girls, they’re just… overwhelmed by your abilities.”

“H-Hah? K-Kiyoko-san, just how much did you see!?”

“Everything. Well,” Kiyoko says as he sputters and moves backwards. She follows in his steps. “Not everything, but enough. Your teacher, Akemi-”

“You’ve spoken to Ake-sensei? Kiyoko-san!” His bewilderment at just how much she’s in his world, how in the know she is, his entire face while he tries to understand it all, makes her chuckle. At the same time, Kiyoko needs to keep silent as to _why_ Akemi talked to her, and so she straightens her face, clear of all emotion.

Tanaka is sensitive though. In the time she sat at the far end of Hall B, she had learned stuff she already knew, which had been at the back of her mind. Stuff she could’ve found out herself if she tried, but which would have caused suspicion and questions. Such as Tanaka’s birthday, how he’s a Pisces man, and anything that the girls told her about a man born in the beginning of March. Sensitive creatures who follow their gut. Creatures born at the Third of March have two sides, like the two fish, symbolized doubly in the double 3’s. And not everyone was allowed to know both.

They could also change moods, and be spontaneous. Kiyoko finds out when a hand appears in front of her.

“Kiyoko-san, wanna dance?”

She’s shocked out of her stupor, so fast that she shakes her head in the same instant. Tanaka becomes fired up, the shared secrecy now taking over his previous flabbergasted self. There’s a feeling that the bar for him got lowered, as if Kiyoko came down to his level, his world, to stand on the same ground, sharing the same knowledge. 

“Please? Did you see which dance Ake-sensei and I mean, perhaps?”

“Yes I did.” That answer was a mistake. Kiyoko’s hand is taken, and she has to follow Tanaka towards the stereo. Her eyes widen but the words to refuse him die on her lips as she watches him. He’s excited, and still holds her hand as he crouches and finds the song Kiyoko had danced to on her own. His excitement catches on to her, and she knows he’s pumped to do this not just because he’s into her. They have a common secret which is now known between them, and he’s eager to show off, as usual. The song starts, and it’s Tanaka’s face, how he looks forward to it, and the warmth pressing around her wrist from his palm, which tickles Kiyoko’s spine.

“Tanaka-kun, please, I don’t know how-” She tries to defend herself, thinks he would let her go if she pleads. It’s half true. Tanaka’s hand loosens, and his face falls. It breaks Kiyoko’s heart, but she has to protect herself and her dignity here.

“Nonsense!” The yell from the door makes Kiyoko’s shoulders hunch up as if the sheer gesture could protect her. She turns around to see who it is, although that booming voice can only belong to one woman. Akemi beams at her, quickly getting to where Kiyoko and Tanaka are standing. 

“C’mon, I can show you what to do, Glasses girl.” Akemi is near them, then runs back laughing and closes the door when she catches Kiyoko watching as if anyone else could get in here. ‘Privacy, privacy’, she laughs, then points at Tanaka. 

“Press replay, Ryuu. I’m sure this girl actually knows more than she lets on.” Akemi’s presence and persistence makes Kiyoko want to show them that she does know how to move, better than those girls in Hall B, anyway. Tanaka’s face lights up, while Kiyoko tries to find a way out of this situation. Akemi won’t let her. Kiyoko’s shoulders are in a tight grasp, and Akemi bows down to be on her eye level. “You did it, right? You know some of the routine, don’t you!? I know you’ve come to our sessions, before the jazz dancers or you ballerinas start.”

Kiyoko avoids Tanaka. She shakes her head, but it's no use. She’s been found out, as much as Tanaka has been a few minutes ago. There’s no reason to hide anymore, except that her heart is going insane against her chest. Kiyoko is afraid that Tanaka can feel her pulse racing against his palm. They’re talking about her and Tanaka dancing together. Just how is she supposed to manage that!? 

“ _Sweety, don’t be shy_ ,” Akemi drawls in English, then continues in Japanese again. “I knew you two would have a connection. After all, what else would guide you to this very place?”

Kiyoko knows exactly what. Wrong decisions, too much curiosity, and a boy that’s been on her mind 24/7 for the past weeks. She should have left him alone, shouldn’t have stared, should have acted earlier and on her own terms, before being sucked into this whirlpool of feelings and embarrassment. Kiyoko cannot even sputter out a reason to object. At the same time she knows she has lost the ability to speak, and a tiny voice tells her that maybe she has to talk with her body.

“Ake-sen-sei!” Tanaka interrupts, coming to Kiyoko’s aid. “She’s my senpai from Karasuno, the one I- uhm.” He tries to backpedal, but Akemi won’t let him, her laughter roaring through the smaller hall. 

“Oh wait, this is _the_ Kiyoko-san? The girl who’s the most beautiful person you ever saw and your year long crush? Hah!” Akemi has let go of Kiyoko’s shoulders, and is now slapping the top of Tanaka’s head. He doesn’t say he’s in pain, as his teeth grind together, he has much more to do sputtering objections in his own right. The warmth around Kiyoko’s wrist pulls away as Tanaka tries to ward his teacher off.

“You’re saying too much again, sensei!”

Akemi claps her hands, then sidesteps the pair to the stereo. “Yes, let’s press play and see how your girl does.”

“She isn’t ‘my girl’, stop saying embarrassing things, Kiyoko-san will get mad.” Tanaka is blushing, and it’s not just colouring his cheeks. Kiyoko presses her lips together. She shouldn’t be happy about anything at all, but cannot help her feelings as they are. The song starts, Tanaka interrupting the song by refusing to put Kiyoko into an embarrassing position, or forcing her to dance. He walks away, Akemi protesting.

“Oh grow up, Ryuu. It’s _just_ a dance!” She bellows, and something in that sentence, something in the way Tanaka looks downright sad, pushes Kiyoko’s feet into movement at last. 

“Wait,” she says as she steps forward, her hand holding Tanaka’s elbow. He looks over his shoulder, about to shake her off, but then his head catches up to who is touching him where. He blinks at her fingers, so much fairer against his slightly tanned skin. For once, Kiyoko doesn’t want to hide or shy away. She’s done being described as the ‘beautiful manager’ or the ‘sexy one’. 

Her heart leads, and her body follows, throwing caution to the wind. 

Ciara’s words give her courage. Even when Kiyoko looks down at their feet, she closes her eyes for a second, relaxing her shoulders. Tanaka’s bold hand is on her waist, making her sway side to side. When Nicki Minaj starts singing, her eyes flash open, all predatory, and she drops her front lower, knees bent, creating some distance between her and Tanaka. He grins, as if he faces an opponent, and nods as he follows her. Widening her stance, Kiyoko’s head falls back, letting her hips roll as the beat dictates how she has to move. It’s just a matter of a second in which she forgets where she is and who is watching, what she’s doing. When the fast rap part comes, she licks her thumb, looking at Tanaka, and motions him to come and get her. 

The rap slows once more, and Tanaka spins, showing Kiyoko his back, closing in, enabling Kiyoko to grab his shoulder. He’s much taller and larger, but they sync the hip swing, and she lets the song roam through her arm and hand, giving Tanaka’s shoulder a tug to make him turn. When he does, her hand flies to the top of his head, and he makes him drop down, his face close to her front. He drops low, looking up to her all business and waiting. He fell back to his hands, displaying himself in a raunchous way, hovering his body above the floor while being on hands and feet only. 

Three weeks ago she would run. Two weeks ago she would put her hair behind her ear and shake her head. One week ago she would turned fire engine red. Now, she looks haughty, mighty, turns like she doesn’t care. Seeing herself in the wide mirror of the hall, she holds her own gaze, steps backwards over him, jumps and turns in the air, landing with one leg at either side of his torso. She matches Tanaka’s ‘Want some, get some’ stare with her own. Tanaka falls to the floor, then flexes himself up in a breakdance jump, his body ramming her front lightly. Their foreheads touch. Other girls were frightened at this aggressiveness, this call to return the attack, the closeness. Kiyoko does as asked, pushes Tanaka, her hands glued to his chest. His hands go low on her back, pushing them together. 

Although Kiyoko would love to touch the back of his head, to hold onto his shoulder, she follows the routine. Hand on his shoulder, she pushes herself away on arm’s length, stepping back, waiting for his hand to catch hers before it’s too far away. He does, grinning, and Kiyoko spins back into his arms, pushing her leg the right way to stop and not ram him too hard. It’s all play when her body flows, knocking her shoulder against the entire length of the torso when she drops to a squat, still holding his hand as she shakes her bottom, hovering above the floor. 

Tanaka steps back, pulling her up straight once more. Her back collides with his chest, bumps his in just the right way. They swing together as one, mirroring the previous part where Kiyoko had stood behind him. His hand holds hers, makes her spin, to bring her frontside to his. Tanaka looks down on her, mouth hanging open, while Kiyoko’s hands frame his face. They’re close enough to kiss, lips hovering close enough to inhale the same air. 

When Kiyoko’s eyelashes flutter half-lidded, she feels his too. Their noses brush while Kiyoko lets her body fall forward, standing between his feet. They’re supposed to shake their heads into the opposite directions and create some distance again, but Kiyoko is unable to let go of his warm face, and Tanaka’s hands make no move to leave her backside.

And then the song ends. 

Akemi claps hard, her eyes closed and her head shaking. 

“Incredible. Just downright fucking amazing.” 

Kiyoko breathes hard now, her lashes fluttering open, staring at Tanaka’s mouth. Back in the here and now, the thrill of the song not riding her anymore, she steps back, flustered. Tanaka too is shy and touching the back of his head, brushing it and laughing. Keeping her hands at the back, Kiyoko knows she’s gone too far.

Following her initial instincts at last, she bows to Akemi, apologizes, and runs.

*~*~*

Tanaka doesn’t approach her. He doesn’t interrupt her dance session, nor does he follow her home. There’s no mention of their hot 3 minutes and 20 seconds during the first practice the following Monday. When Kiyoko starts to think she would get over her crush, that Tanaka might realize they just can’t be despite the chemistry, the catalyzer into the worst event ever happens. It comes in form of a small flyer, fluttering to Tsukishima’s feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHA yes I leave it here.


	3. Warped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tanaka has a strong mental strength when playing volleyball, but its being tested when the team finds out about the other thing he's good at. Luckily, Kiyoko is there to hold his hand, hold tight, and pull.
> 
> The views of the team towards Tanaka isn't the only thing being warped. Kiyoko also takes the chance to finally do what her heart desires, and 'warp' her relationship with the boy she likes into something else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of this chapter belongs to the few things that had to be it from the start~ Its also one of the first scenes I put down when I started writing this fic at the end of September *v* 
> 
> For the second part of the chapter... ahhhh I really hope people will like it QAQ Finally the slow build actually builds up to something more, concerning the second half of the tags :D  
> Thank you to all the people who have read it so far~ I hope the wait was endurable =v=

The colourful spread stood erect between Tsukishima’s thumb and index finger. He pushes his glasses up, regarding the text, then looks over to Tanaka. Kiyoko notices it, holding three water bottles in her arms without letting loose to the one Ennoshita tries to pry of her hands. She watches Tsukishima, looking from Tanaka back to the flyer, then returning his gaze in a non-believing matter back to the loud mouth laughing at something Kageyama said.

If Kiyoko would have known, she would have rushed to Tsukishima’s side, ripped the flyer out of his hand, and sworn him into secrecy. As it was, her bad feeling wasn’t enough to make her move, standing frozen next to the court during a refreshing water break.

“What is this, Tanaka-san?” Tsukishima says, the disbelief thick in his tone. Yamaguchi comes to his side, eyebrows pulling together in confusement of what he’s reading.

Tanaka turns around, lacking the gut-feeling that spreads like ice cold water in Kiyoko’s stomach, and he laughs at Tsukishima. The latter turns the flyer around, display a dance contest and workshops given at the dance school Kiyoko and Tanaka visit. The ice cold feeling in Kiyoko’s gut spreads to Tanaka’s face, which drops like ice melting in the sun. He jumps over Hinata in order to get to Tsukishima, who steps away nimbly. 

“Tsukishima, you bastard!” Tanaka mutters under his breath, which causes several heads to look their way. He snatches the flyer of Tsukishima’s fingers, only to have it taken by Ennoshita, who gave up trying to get his water bottle from Kiyoko.

“Heh, what’s this? ‘Showcase, workshop and… dance contest’?” Ennoshita looks up from the flyer to Tanaka, whose face still looks like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Ennoshita snorts, and Nishinoya enters the picture. During all this time, Kiyoko had given a lot of thought if Tanaka’s best friend knew about his other passions, if Nishinoya might have been the only one who knew before Kiyoko stumbled into the dance routine a few weeks ago. His eyes are on fire, and he gives Ennoshita a withering look, ready to kill. 

“The hell are you laughing at, Chikara?” 

“Yeah, well,” The flyer passes from Ennoshita’s hand to Sugawara’s, while both he, Kageyama and Sawamura look upon it. “I mean, why would Tanaka have something like that?” 

Kiyoko glances at Tanaka’s, whose eyes are glued to the flyer as it changes hands. It had fallen out of his trousers, the same in which Kiyoko had seen him dance sometimes. It must have fallen out, after he had stuffed it there, and then forgot which training clothes he packs for which practice. Ennoshita’s questions hang over them like a rainy cloud, while more and more of the team read the contents of the piece of paper doing its rounds. 

“Don’t tell me you’re interested in dancing, Tanaka.” Ennoshita continues, blackening the cloud over their heads. Somewhere in the back where the flyer makes its last appearance, Narita starts giggling, shaking his head merely imagining it. Tanaka looks to his feet, his hands balled to fists next to his sides. He’s the very picture of a child caught by his parents, holding in a cry.

“Chikara, shut your mouth.” Nishinoya seethes, and Kiyoko feels at least a part of that protectiveness, too.

“Why the hell would Tanaka-san dance…” The word sounds so strange on Kageyama’s lips, and his confusement seeps to the rest, finally giving Tanaka a look full of disbelief, as if only volleyball exists. As far as everyone here is concerned, it’s all they do, it’s where they put their collective and individual energy into. Although it had seemed so strange to her as well, Kiyoko understood even beforehand why Tanaka has kept it a secret. The feeling in the group was weird, taunting, and even though none of it was directed to her, she felt bad for Tanaka who had to endure their questions. 

“C’mon guys, this is Tanaka we’re talking about.” Sugawara offers, his palms up to the ceiling. No matter how light he tried to keep the air, Kiyoko only felt dread. 

“Suga-san, please.” Nishinoya pleads, but their vice-captain continues.

“I mean, you don’t dance, right? It’s too ridiculous to imagine. You probably have a weird and perverted reason to go to this thing.” Sugawara takes the flyer as it makes it round back, and waves it around. Kiyoko looks at Nishinoya, whose anger peaks. His face is all distorted, and she remembers when she’d seen him last like this; it was during his fall out with Asahi, after they had lost in Kiyoko’s second year. Meanwhile, Tanaka cannot look anyone in the eye, having troubles keeping the tremble out of his balled fists. 

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi stand behind him, and watching Tanaka and Nishinoya, they take cautious steps back. Overcome by the hurl of emotions of the last few weeks, Kiyoko’s hand vanishes in her pocket, past the stopwatch, pulling out her iPod, and rips the headphone cord out of it. She finds a specific song in her playlist, and presses play. The sudden sound clapping gets everyone’s attention, and while they look at her, Kiyoko watches Tanaka, waiting for his attention, for him to recognize the song.

“Show it.” She says, resolute. Tanaka doesn’t get, while Nishinoya does. She sees his face light up, understanding spreading a smile across of his face. Tanaka blinks at her, who fails to reach the same conclusion as Nishinoya, and he almost shakes his head in a plea of not wanting to get it. 

“Go on. You have no problem dancing to it in front of a huge audience in the dance school,” Kiyoko says more loudly, to be heard over the music when Ciara sings. Nishinoya nods, stepping back to give Tanaka the room he needs. Kiyoko knows she’s putting him on the spot. At the same time, she believes that this lot has to see before they believe. Just like she had to be shocked. 

Tanaka doesn’t move, not the way his body wants him too. Huffing, Kiyoko puts her iPod into Nishinoya’s hands, then takes Tanaka’s wrist and pulls him away from the team. He stumbles after her, in a trance. Kiyoko is empowered by the need to make them see Tanaka in all his glory, how cool he is, how extraordinary. He’s not meant to be made fun of. It gives her so much strength that she can turn Tanaka around, his back now to the onlooking teammates. 

“What are you waiting for?” She asks, whispering towards him. He looks at her full of confusion, mouthing pleas she cannot hear or care to understand. Kiyoko still holds his wrists, and remembers how they had danced. She muses that they didn’t have enough practice together to repeat that miracle perfect routine once more, but the chemistry was there nonetheless. Remembering what they did when, she takes Tanaka’s other hand, spreading his palm open with her thumb, and lets him put it on her waist. She feels embarrassed, but sways her lower body to the music nonetheless, trying to mimic what she had done before, when Tanaka made her do it.

Tanaka lets his head fall, eyes to the floor, begging her a little bit louder to stop. 

“Please Kiyoko-san, I- I can’t do this.” His voice is a whisper, one that lacks confidence in a way she never saw him waver in strength before. The face glancing at her makes Kiyoko’s heart clench. This is something he loves, and now he’s been made fun off, because no one behind him believes he’s actually able to do it. Kiyoko’s emotions take a leap, and she boldly places her hands on his shoulders, rubbing him, her thumbs dipping into the hollow of his collarbones. 

Yes you can, she says, not through words. There had been a physical attraction between them, then physical chemistry when they danced. It shouldn’t be that hard to reproduce it now or to create something entirely new. They were from Karasuno after all, and their team was known to take bold steps towards the horizon. 

As imperfect as it is bound to be, she hums the Nicki Minaj’s first verse in the song, the slow one. It gains Tanaka’s attention, and she feels how eager he is to move, to dance to the music he likes and practiced so much to get the routine right. Kiyoko sways, stepping to the side, make his eyes follow her. She tries not to look behind him, not to see the whole team gaping at them. Tanaka’s shoulders are slumped, and she twirls into his arm, her back against his chest. She slips, having no balance or knowledge of properly doing this without his hand holding hers. She’s bound to fall. A week before she had looked down on those girls who bumped too hard into him or who didn’t dare at all, and now she was the one fucking up-

But Tanaka won’t let her drop. His other arm slides around her waist to her stomach, his hand holding her upright. In tune, they move together, Kiyoko looking straight ahead and ignoring the heat spreading from her neck towards her face, a fluttering feeling criss-crossing her entire body. She knows how to move at least a little bit, and uses her jazz dance knowledge to spin out of his arm, which extends itself to enable her to do so. Stepping back into his private space, their foreheads brush together, and Tanaka puts his hand on her back, slowly going down on her, her eyes never leaving his as he lowers himself through the knees. His knees spread beside her legs, and she tries not to blush looking down, or anywhere else, clenching his hand still holding hers. This is new, but it’s also something she has to do for Tanaka. He comes up in one smooth move, and when the song picks up, so do they. 

Tanaka is his old self, the new self Kiyoko came to know, by the time Ciara sings again. Kiyoko doesn’t know the routine that well, might as well have forgotten it, the way Tanaka looks at her. But he guides Kiyoko, letting her body flow into his, as if they’re two bodies of water connecting in one stream.

Glued together, they move as such. Tanaka’s eyes intent on hers, none of his silent dismay visible. He’s sure of himself, gliding backwards on his feet, slowly enough to let Kiyoko follow. She does so by letting her feet chase his, making the routine so much more interesting and aggressive. She remembers Akemi telling the girls in Hall B about big steps, loud stomps, and Kiyoko does all of it. Meanwhile, her hand is on his shoulder, a steady strength making sure she’s not afraid, letting Kiyoko know he’s here. His embrace warm and not too tight, and she doesn’t hold back when her hand brushes his neck. It ignites a last long rub between their hips, Tanaka’s chest on hers, moving, brushing her. They end in letting their hips circle as one, and very close together. It’s the end of the song, the last ‘I’m the shit’ resounds from Kiyoko’s iPod, Tanaka’s mouth brushing her hair and forehead. His breath moving her pony aside.

For one long second, he gazes at her mouth, breathing hard, and Kiyoko wants to chase his warm breath, wants to steal it. It’s a deja-vu, when their bodies were too close, his hands too warm, and her own fingers shaking across the sides of his head

Nishinoya pauses the next song as it starts, then claps.

Blinking back to the here and now, in which the team stands to their side, either with mouths open or tightly shut, Kiyoko gives them one look before she lets her head spin away from them. Tanaka is stock still, gripping her hand tight. She removes her hand from his shoulder as if she got burned. Tanaka apologizes silently, by stepping away out of her comfort zone, his fingers letting go of hers. 

He finally speaks. Giving the team a hard look, his voice catches up to his mouth moving. 

“The fuck are all of you staring, huh!? Aren’t we supposed to go running? Let’s go.” He turns, and stalks out of the gym, his ears and neck tomato red. Kiyoko’s face mimicked that blush, and she blindly runs into the crowd still unmoving, grabs her iPod out of Nishinoya’s outstretched hands, and runs to the nearest exit which doesn’t have her follow Tanaka like a blushing girl she is right now. She finds the latter, does not look back, and climbs to the first storey. Kiyoko doesn’t regard the gymnasium as a whole, and soon crouches behind their banner, where she can’t be seen by anyone. 

“Oh- kay. You lot, stop being thunderstruck and go running!” Ukai’s voice resounds as he enters the gymnasium, and one after the other, the team marches out at last. One the last squeaking of shoes exits, Kiyoko allows her hands to shake as much as they want, and she releases a trembling breath from her lips. 

*~*~*

Asahi rubs his back, all warm voice and tender apologies. Yuu is on his other side, speaking sternly with him, praising him a lot and patting his shoulder. Ryuunosuke cannot do more than hide. Sitting on a staircase, his legs propped up and his elbows resting on them, he hides his face behind his arms, unwilling to face the world. 

“That was really cool, Tanaka.” Asahi offers in a low voice, rubbing Tanaka’s spine a bit harder as if to let the reassurance seep in better. Tanaka had run ahead of them, only to find a spot where he could try and sink in a hole. Of course he was found by Yuu, who had Asahi following after him. He was actually glad to have such a good friend as Yuu, and someone as nice as Asahi come looking for him. 

“I keep telling you, Ryuu, you’re freaking awesome! There’s no need to be ashamed, alright?” 

Still, Ryuunosuke couldn’t help but want to vomit. All this time, he knew there was a reason to keep his other hobby a secret from the team, from the entire school. He had no problems letting out the beast when he was with like-minded people, who shared a great taste of music and a strong love for breakdancing and urban dance. Letting it be known in the club, and even worse, _seen_ , had broke him. Ryuunosuke was afraid he was going to have to quit the club, change schools, in order to never look at anyone again.

Of course he was being dramatic, but Pisces man just got to be so sensitive. Yuu had told him one too many times he was too sensitive for his own good, and that all his macho behaviour and bad boy looks were a cover up. It was the truth; Ryuunosuke hates being weak like this, to pretend that he isn’t proud of what he can do and what his other group of friends totally admire him for. He loves to dance with the guys, create new routines, get heaps of praise and respect from Akemi, and the rest of the people who came every week. It’s not only here at volleyball where he likes to be called ‘senpai’; at the dance center, it gives him a great rush when the younger people look up to him. 

He never knew when Kiyoko had found out. Hadn’t known she danced until last week. It had felt right, dancing together, and his crush flared and blazed like fireworks when his hands roam her body. It had gotten too sexy, the song being one of his favourites, where he couldn’t control what Akemi had once dubbed to be his ‘mating moves’, unable to stop once he got started. Realizing what he had done, what Kiyoko had done for and to him… and then seeing all the guys (and Yacchan) watching them...

“Ugh, I want to go home.” He whines, receiving a well-deserved elbow to his head. Yuu would never hear of the nonsense Ryuunosuke said when he got down on himself. He had made a damn fool out of himself though, and has lost control what he did to Kiyoko, too. There wasn’t even a bit of curiosity in him to think about Kiyoko’s role just now, how well she had synced up to him, how close they’d gotten again. Head filling up by more taunts and being ridiculed as an idiot who couldn’t possibly dance, he dug himself into a deeper hole, not hearing what Yuu and Asahi said to him anymore.

Not until Yuu’s voice drops to an ice cold level that had Ryuunosuke’s alarm going off. He didn’t look up, but his arm shot out in front on automatic, ready to hold Yuu back from whatever trouble he might get into.

“You got guts coming here, Chikara. You better apologize!” 

“That’s uhm. Yeah. That’s what I’m here for.” Chikara’s voice was small, and Ryuunosuke saw his feet dig into the brown patches of grass between them. “I’m sorry for. Everything. I was such an asshole, and. And I’m really sorry.”

Once he feels Yuu’s arm not trying to struggle out of his grip, Ryuunosuke drops his own hands between his knees, wringing them. He couldn’t look at Chikara, not yet. 

“I mean it, Tanaka. You. What you did- uhm. The stuff , I mean. It was really cool.” Chikara smiles, and Yuu follows up, flicking Tanaka’s head to make him look.

“Super cool.” He said, more emphasis in his voice than in his fist punching Ryuunosuke’s side. Asahi stops rubbing his back, nodding along. 

“It was really something, Tanaka. I didn’t know you were this good. It was cool to see.” 

“Yeah,” Chikara adds. “So cool. I couldn’t do anything like that.” 

“You and Kiyoko-san made a real good-looking pair, too. I’m jealous.” Yuu smiles, wide and bright, his hand on top of Ryuunosuke’s neck. There’s no ill intent, no dislike, no envy. Yuu is generously happy for him. “And hey, she totally had your back, right? She was really into it.” 

“You should talk to her.” Asahi offers softly, standing up. “Come on, let’s go back. The rest will be waiting for us.” 

Chikara doesn’t move when Ryuunosuke and Yuu stand, and his eyes go off staring at some interesting grass on the ground.

“I- Daichi said he’s gone back to see if she’s alright. And to send you, Tanaka, too.” Chikara looks up, leaving out that maybe Daichi had told him to do the thing he knew he should be doing anyway. He still feels uneasy, bad for what he’d done. Ryuunosuke cannot stay mad long, nor doesn’t he think he has any right to be mad at Chikara. It’s only natural for people who don’t know everything about him to be skeptic and surprised. He moves forward, giving Chikara a punch. 

“Heh, we’re good, Ennoshita! Don’t worry, okay? And thanks.” He adds in at last, then walks past quickly. He’s still embarrassed, but has to put it aside for now. On his way back to the gym, ‘good luck!’ calls follow him.

*~*~*

The group is out running, and Kiyoko hears how Sawamura gives last instructions to someone without hearing what exactly he’s saying. It takes a while, and then Sawamura finds her and crouches next where Kiyoko sits, keeping still and silent until Kiyoko acts like she notices his existence. He’s awkward, doesn’t touch her, his voice low and trying to be understanding.

“That was quite something, Shimizu.” Sawamura doesn’t look when she peeks, and Kiyoko wonders if she would have gotten the same treatment as Tanaka, that no one would have believed at first that she likes to dance. In any case, Sawamura sitting here does nothing for her well-being. The boy she wishes would sit next to her and give her advice and reassurance is probably running off some steam and tension. Or hating her right now for making him show all of himself to the team.

She still feels Tanaka’s lips brushing her temple. 

“How long?”

“What?” She turns to him, her eyes coming back into focus. He could have asked how long she danced, how long she knew Tanaka did. Instead, Sawamura’s smile is soft, knowing, and he hadn’t asked about the other hobby at all. 

“How long have you… liked him?” He gives more context. Kiyoko looks away, the forwardness of the question too much to be handled face to face. It has been more than a month, give or take a few days in which the realization and the denial had happened. She doesn’t tell Sawamura that though. It doesn’t matter, anyway. She doesn’t think anyone else but Sawamura and Sugawara might have understood what happened down at the court. Kiyoko has a hard time understanding herself. 

“I don’t know.” She lies, looking at her hands twisted atop of her knees. “A few weeks.” 

“Mhnn.” 

She wants to tell him it means nothing. Just a few more months and she can forget all about it. Move on.

Just like she has to get up and move on right now. She hears the first person returning from the run. Reluctant to leave her hiding place, she stays where she is, unable to will her body into movement. Sawamura sighs, gets up, and looks down at the returning crows fluttering in out of breath. 

“You know,” he says, voice dropped low enough to be a whisper just meant for her ears. “If you want it badly enough, you should go after it. There’s no reason to say no when you crave it, or have silly reasons to deny yourself the joy of love.” Sawamura looks down to Kiyoko, his understanding spreading renewed warmth in her. “It’s crazy, maybe. But if you feel it’s right for you, why not? Tanaka isn’t bad. He has great qualities, and I’m sure he’d make you happy.” 

He turns away, walking to the ladder and goes down out of sight. Kiyoko hears his voice again, but not what he’s saying. A few seconds later, Tanaka appears, and Kiyoko’s head spins to the other side, avoiding eye contact. She hears him approach, sit down, close enough to feel his body heat, the scent he got from running; the woods clinging to him. Kiyoko turns her head, enough to look at her knees, where she clasps her hands together harder.

Tanaka wriggles one hand between them, his rough fingers gentle when he pries her fingers loose. She allows him to link their hands together, and at last, lets herself rests against his shoulder, finally breathing easy. Maybe it's just this easy.

“Kiyoko-san, would you like to drink some tea with me, next Friday, before dance practice?”

Kiyoko smiles, her eyes closing. The stress from the past weeks flow out of her, forgotten. Letting Tanaka sweat a little and wait, she nods at last. “Yes, I’d love to.”

*~*~*

After the whole dazzling mess, Kiyoko thought that at last, drinking tea with Tanaka wouldn’t make her heart race. Somewhere in her good girl head, she had believed that sharing a pot of Oolong tea in a nice and peaceful café would calm her down.

Little did she know that a hot day in summer, later mentioned in the news as a ‘record breaking heat’, Tanaka would show up in a grey sleeveless tank and in steel blue shorts. He wore a skyblue cap and even donned sunglasses. When he greeted her, the words didn’t quite reach Kiyoko. It made him step closer, into her personal space, and his fingertips graced her arm as lightly as feathers. 

Something akin to words comes forth from Kiyoko’s wobbling mouth, as she blinked herself back into the here and now. Tanaka smiled in this wicked way that made her shoulders flinch, as the boyish grin came closer to her face. He kisses her cheek, light and simple, then touches the inside of her palm to initiate handholding. 

“You come to this place often?” Kiyoko manages to say, letting herself be led by Tanaka, who chose this place. 

“Nah, to be honest… I asked my sis’ where I should take you. Mind, she chewed my ear off for half an hour.” Tanaka’s face became grim, as if being grilled by his sister about his starting love life was the worst. “I didn’t mention your name though, just that it was a pretty girl from Karasuno.” 

They enter the cozy looking café, and were greeted by a girl at the entrance. They chose seating arrangements in the back, and Kiyoko ponders if this was a secretive need issued by Tanaka.

“Why didn’t you say it was me?”

“Well… I guess the team knows, yeah. I wasn’t sure if you minded if I told my family and my friends, though.” Tanaka goes around to her side to pull the chair back, let her sit, and push it towards the table. Pushing her hair back, Kiyoko lets him unfold the menu as well. She scans the pages for anything interesting, keeping her voice neutral. 

“I don’t mind.” She confides, looking at him through her lashes. “Although, about the dance center.”

“‘Ch-yeah, I thought about that too!” Tanaka grins, having eyes for her instead as he waited for Kiyoko to pick something. “If you don’t mind them knowing, we can go there together from now on, ehm.” Tanaka blushes and brings himself to sit back in the chair, as if the suggestion was too forward. His behaviour reminds Kiyoko that she is his senior by one year. 

But in dance terms, he’s way more schooled. There must be a middle ground for them.

“Ryuunosuke-kun, I-”

At that moment, three things happened at once. Tanaka’s eyes widened when he heard her use his given name. A waitress appeared at their table to get their order. At the same time, both of them were surprised (Tanaka because of the name, Kiyoko because of the person standing next to them), and they kicked their feet out at the same time. Tanaka’s hit Kiyoko’s chair, which rumbled beneath her.

However, Kiyoko managed to kick her ballerina pumps into his leg. 

Everyone started to profusely apologize at the same time, while Tanaka managed to knock his other, not hit leg against the table, and a cup containing sugarcubes flew off the table. It didn’t break, but the sugarcubes flew everywhere, and the whole commotion made the other people in the café look at them. Kiyoko became red in the face as Tanaka scrambled to clean up. It was when she noticed that they were the only boyfriend/girlfriend couple here. 

The thought of being boyfriend/girlfriend made her heart pound against her chest and in her throat. A silent and invisible hum went through her entire body, and with it her mind and heart all agreed that this was something that she yearned for. 

Once things got peaceful again at their table, Kiyoko managed to mumble her order to the table, while Tanaka quickly picked a whole pot of Oolong tea, and at least three cakes to make up for what just happened. 

“Ah, sorry about that! And damn, you got some strength in your right foot, Kiyoko-san.” Tanaka flashes her a smile that forgave the small pain she gave him. He rubs his leg, hissing. “Sorry, you- eh, you were saying?”

Kiyoko plays with the menu before she folds it and puts it back.

“Ah, yes. Tanaka-kun, ehm.” She saw his face fall, then tried again with more conviction. “ _Ryuunosuke_ -kun, uhm, I don’t mind if we walk there together. That’s what I wanted to say. And.” 

“Yes, and?” Tanaka has his hand on his knee, something Kiyoko sees as he has his legs spread wide and she is staring down. She had wanted to offer that he doesn’t have to address her this politely anymore, that calling her ‘Kiyoko’ would suffice, and if he could stop using the _desu_ and _masu_ forms when addressing her. But maybe, they weren’t yet ready for that.

“And that I won’t be able to eat 1,5 of those cakes you just ordered. For the future.” She finishes cleanly, looking to the floor to ceiling windows at the other end of the café. It doesn’t matter if she was struggling; Tanaka seemed happy enough being hinted they might go on more dates. 

“Got it. We can pack the third one for later! I always get super hungry after dancing. Could eat a whole cake.”

“Mhn. I saw that during Hinata-kun’s birthday. You shared one cake with Nishinoya and there wasn’t much left for the rest of us.” 

Tanaka grins, nodding. “Daichi-san got so mad! I’ve never run that hard in my life.”

“Oh, you have. I think it was during the city run a few weeks ago. You outrun Sawamura.” She remembered because she and Hitoka had timed the boys who participated in the charity run. 

“Ouh, really? I wish I’d been that fast…” Tanaka’s fingers play around with the side of the table, his cap taken off and set aside. “You run fast, too! Did you do track and field before becoming manager?” 

Kiyoko looks up when their order arrives; waits before answering. Tanaka pours her a cup of tea as well, next to her espresso with hazelnut sauce and steamed milk. The cakes are cranberry shortcake, white chocolate cake, and a heavy-looking carrot cake, the latter topped with extra whipped cream, which misses from Kiyoko’s coffee. 

“Huh, you ordered without? Don’t tell me you’re trying to watch your figure, Kiyoko-san.” Tanaka says as he distributes the cranberry shortcake to Kiyoko’s side. She shakes her head. 

“No, but too much isn’t good either.” She holds her cup of coffee, testing it’s warmth. It isn’t as if her palms were sweaty or anything. Although Tanaka is easy to be around and invites her to relax, Kiyoko still has trouble getting used to it. It’s their first date, she argues, and good things take time. 

They try out each cake, and Kiyoko noticed how Tanaka tries to feed her one piece a second too late. Sipping her coffee, she hopes it wasn’t an one-time missed opportunity, and that he would try again. Kiyoko offers him a sip of her coffee, which he tries delightedly. His hands envelop the cup entirely, and he takes his time tasting it while Kiyoko pops another piece of cranberry shortcake into her mouth. 

“It’s tasty! But I think whipped cream would have topped it off better.” Tanaka says, bringing the cup back to Kiyoko’s saucer. She notices how his fingers are trembling. While his smile is ever present, it wobbles under pressure. Tanaka shifts his arms back and forth, as if unsure where to put them. One second they’re fully on the table and display his strong muscles, the next he removes them from the table as if he tries not to occupy all of it. Sometimes his hands barely hold onto the edge on his side. The display does something to Kiyoko’s stomach, making it light, fluttering. Pressing her lips together, Kiyoko tries a risky move. 

First she needs to taste the oolong tea though, as Tanaka keeps checking her cup the whole time. It has a nutty character, and fits well after she finished her coffee with hazelnut. She looks up to Tanaka, smiling, wanting to thank him like the fool she is.

It’s when Tanaka returns her smile more broadly, his mouth half full with tea, when the second accident happens. Smiling with your lips open and teeth showing isn’t the best idea when you’re still swallowing tea. Next thing Kiyoko knows, she has to get up, grabbing napkins, and cleaning off Tanaka’s front. Her hands dab carefully over his shirt where he spilled most of the tea. 

“S-sorry, Kiyo-oh-oh-ko-san! You don’t have to- ah?” 

Kiyoko is lost getting him dry that she didn’t notice her hand dabbing down low over his abdomen. When she does, her face reddens brighter than as if she had drunk too much hot tea at once. Half-running back to her seat, she throws another pack of napkins at Tanaka, to clean his face up. 

“Ah, thanks.” Tanaka blushes too, trying to hide behind napkins and drinking tea, stuffing his face with cake. It crumbles at his lips as he can’t hold that much. The face he makes when he sees Kiyoko staring makes her laugh behind her hand. He apologizes to her.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t really taken girls out much. Well,”

“Mhn-n,” Kiyoko shakes her head, looking at his hand lying closest towards her on the table. She decides against holding it for now. Her cheeks burn, probably the same way as Tanaka’s face warms up again. “It’s fine. I’m having a good time, nonetheless.” 

“Good! I want you to feel- eh, no wait.” He backtracks on his words, starting again. “I’m glad you’re having fun.”

And not caring about her figure at all, Kiyoko helps Tanaka eating all three cakes throughout their time, finishing the pot of tea within an hour, too. Kiyoko enjoys her last cup, her feet put together and at ease next to Tanaka’s outstretched leg. 

*~*~*

It takes some time getting used to being natural around each other as they date, but Kiyoko soon becomes accustomed to Ryuunosuke’s gentle ways and how he likes to hold hands. After they got the hang of drinking tea together (and not be too clumsy in the process), and various movie outings, dating becomes second nature. Kiyoko also manages to make Ryuunosuke talk casually to her, although he insists on addressing her as ‘Kiyoko-san’ still. It’s alright with Kiyoko, who is proud to call him by his given name more naturally at long last. 

Afterwards, Ryuunosuke likes to take her to parks and shrines. He’s a gentleman, careful of the weather and always compliments what she wears on casual days. They even go out to the shopping malls in their uniforms on a Saturday after classes end early. Kiyoko makes sure she looks haughty when they walk the shops hand in hand, daring anyone to say something that someone looking like her and someone looking as menacing and challenging like Ryuunosuke walk together.

She likes how he calms her down by kissing her cheek, or eats off her hand while holding eye contact. There’s so much Kiyoko comes to like about Ryuunosuke, and she sings in the bath, or does her toe nails with a new smile spreading over her lips whenever she thinks of him.

They’re together for three weeks before he brings her to the top of a hill to watch the sunset together. Summer in Miyagi is only bearable in the evenings, when cool breezes make their way inland. Making it to the top, Kiyoko can see Nishinoya in the distance, running after Ennoshita and jumping sideways to hide in some bushes. She doesn’t comment on it, and instead brings her focus to the lovely picnic spread in front of her. 

“I made all the stuff you like, Kiyoko-san!” Ryuunosuke exclaims, taking his shoes off and guiding her to the spread. She follows his example, holding his hand as she sits down and looks at the picnic basket. He made sandwiches, leaving out the tomato she dislikes and the ketchup she loves. 

“Thank you, Ryuunosuke-kun. It’s tasty.” 

“Yeah? Good.” While Ryuunosuke busies himself pouring them green tea and smiling from ear to ear, Kiyoko scans the area. There’s lots of people here relaxing, but not many couples. Approvingly, she takes the tea offered to her, then uses her free hand to take his chin between her fingers. There’s something empowering in making his head move the way she wants him to, just a simple touch that doesn’t hold much push.

As he sputters, she kisses his cheek. It’s one of her favourite things to do. He’s so warm under her lips, warming up hotter as she chuckles. She takes every opportunity to kiss his face. When he has water drops on his chin, when he has mustard smeared somewhere, or just because Ryuunosuke does sweet things like this for her. The first time she tried they bumped noses together, something for which Ryuunosuke wanted to take the blame at any given moment.

She sits closer, leaning onto his strong shoulder. Ryuunosuke puts an arm around her waist, keeping his hand safely above her skirt. They have been quite innocent, mostly because Kiyoko could only imagine how quick they would take off if she allows it. Dancing, after all, was something like foreplay, Akemi had told her. 

“If you’re cold, I brought a second spread.” His concern is adorable, and Kiyoko shakes her head with a smile. They eat in silence, watching the sun go down in the distance. Once the napkins are passed and their faces cleaned, they start talking about the upcoming dance workshop. Ryuunosuke takes her mp3-player (after she had played it off cool having a ‘Dragon’ playlist), and he plays some songs on her mp3-player, selecting some they could do together. 

“I think it’s safe if we’d take something not too sexy, huh? We came close to kissing a few times, after all! There’s kids coming too, we gotta keep the playlist clean.” Ryuunosuke says, a small worry in his brows but his smile shy and somewhat expectant as well. He skips the R-rated songs and wonders if they can find rap music that is safe. 

Kiyoko’s heart pounds when she gets an idea. Done eating, and hoping her breath is okay after a few sips of the warm tea, she puts it down on the blanket. Before Ryuunosuke can fill her cup once more, she leans her hand heavy on his thigh, and pushes herself up. Without intending to be as smooth as the motion suggest, her nose brushes his, stilling all other movements. 

When peering into his eyes becomes too much, Kiyoko closes her eyes, opening her lips a little and hoping Ryuunosuke will get the hint. He brushes her hair behind her ear, his thumb touching the top of her ear and making Kiyoko’s stomach flutter. 

Their first kiss is soft, splendid, a push and pull which is slow and careful. Kiyoko puts her head into the crook of his neck afterwards, content sighing leaving her body lax and warm. Ryuunosuke’s hand falls to her shoulder, and he holds her tight when his head dips to meet her mouth once more. It’s addicting, kissing him, the way Ryuunosuke becomes bolder and advances his tongue to her lips. She lets him bite her bottom lip, slip a tongue in. The touch is electric, letting her hand shoot up to touch his neck and hold him, allowing him to continue.

When it becomes too deep, too much, and too hot, Kiyoko parts from his warm, wet mouth.

“Don’t be so impatient.” She remarks, adjusting her glasses and looking at the sun as if she doesn’t feel just like the star in front of her, all flames and heat. Ryuunosuke chuckles, a hot breath at her other ear.

“Sorry,” he says, meaning it only a little. “But you’re quite irresistible, and I always dreamed of this, Kiyoko-san.” Instead of her mouth, Ryuunosuke nibbles at her ear, dropping to her jaw, and down lower to her neck. It’s simple kisses that get to her, make her knees rub together. Kiyoko’s whole body heats up like crazy, but she doesn't stop him or push him away.

She pours his tea instead and pushes the cup against his chest, acting cool and not as if her fingers are warmer than the tea she gives to Ryuunosuke

*~*~*

“Well, I am going.” Yuu says, fist to his chest. “I’ve never missed out on their workshop stuffs. Plus I wanna learn how to breakdance, too.” 

“Not just because it showed you can get girls through it?” Kinoshita laughs, having to duck Yuu’s attack.

“Shut up, Hisashi! That’s not it at all, stupid!” Yuu rips the flyer out of Tsukishima’s hands once more. Ryuunosuke looks at the silent first year, watches how his eyes follow yet another flyer. There’s a difficulty seen in his head motions, when Tsukishima tries to look away. Narita makes his voice heard before Ryuunosuke can say something to his kouhai.

“I wanna watch, too. You never allow us to visit, Tanaka. This is, what, the third time now?” 

“Yeah, well! I’ve got good reason to.” Ryuunosuke stutters, putting up an aggressive front without much ground to stand on. Some time has passed since they saw him and Kiyoko dance, and he’s been questioned where this dance hall is and when he has practice. “If you guys show up, I might fuck up and just look stupid.” 

“Oh come on, Tanaka.” Sugawa pouts, looking put down. It makes Ryuunosuke’s principle come apart to see one of his favourite upperclassmen look at him like that. Since Sugawara had found out, he’d been kind to Ryuunosuke, understanding, although he threatened him to take good care of Kiyoko and not mess up his chances. She’s also the one who comes to his rescue now, standing beside him. 

“I’d be pretty upset too.” 

The whole team sighs, unable to contest when their pretty manager throws in an argument like that. Tsukishima mutters something and walks away, Yamaguchi watches after him, laughing. Maybe Ryuunosuke could find it in his heart to let at least the first years come to a workshop. There’s something about Tsukishima’s eyes that look curious. He only thinks about the boys when Hitoka’s mouth wobbles.

“Oh, really? I wanted to come and see too…” It’s kinda hard to deal out a hard ‘no’ to a girl as tiny and sweet as Hitoka. Kiyoko has more troubles than he does, and he lets the girls talk for a bit. Ryuunosuke leaves them alone for a moment, giving Kiyoko space. He had a hard time keeping his hands off her, even if it only meant touching her silky hair or holding her hand. It’s been two days since he’d found out how her lips felt, and Ryuunosuke’s been on cloud 9 ever since. Kissing was on par to be as addicting as holding hands. 

He takes the volleyball aimed at his heart by Daichi in stride, and rejoins practice as the rest gather on either side of the net. Paired at the vanguard with his tall first year teammates, Ryuunosuke steps closer to Tsukishima than to Kageyama. 

“Yo, Tsukishima.” 

“What?” Tsukishima doesn’t look at him, eyes to the front. He sounds tense, even vulnerable. Ryuunosuke chooses his next words wisely.

“Ask Yacchan for the flyer later, and come to the workshop. I can teach you some moves if ya wanna.” Ryuunosuke whispers, just below hearing from the opponent vanguard. If Tsukishima is even the tiniest bit like him, Ryuunosuke understands fully that he doesn’t want stuff like this to be heard or even known by the rest of the team.

“No interest.” Tsukishima dejects, a second too quick to be casual. They both look behind them to see who receives, and Tanaka mumbles ‘whatever’, then yelling ‘Nice receive!’ as Chikara gets the ball. Backing up for the approach, Ryuunosuke watches the ball, letting Tsukishima run up first as decoy. Kageyama gets the ball to the center where Ryuunosuke aims his hand, then spike the ball to a perfect point between Yuu and Asahi. 

The point scored receives Ryuunosuke’s loud exclamation, as well as Kiyoko clapping for him. Ignoring the jealousy of some of his teammates, he gives his girl the peace sign after kissing the tips of his two fingers. 

“I’ll score another one for you, Kiyoko-san! Watch me!” He yells, thankful when Kageyama tosses to him once more later.

Winning the set might have had an intoxicating effect on Tsukishima. That, or Yamaguchi holding his arm and pushing him towards Ryuunosuke. Something takes an effect one way or the other, and when Tsukishima doesn’t meet his eyes, Ryuunosuke gives him the time to speak. He knows what it feels like, to be new at something; to not know how to do it. But Ryuunosuke also remembers having a friend like Yuu backing him and his dreams. The same goes for Tsukishima, who has Yamaguchi, after all.

“I’m way too uncoordinated to do anything fancy. And I’m definitely not going to dance like you or Shimizu-senpai.” 

Smiling, Ryuunosuke pats Tsukishima’s arm, kinder and less hard than he’d usually do in-game when he’s pumped up and fierce. 

“Got it! Bring comfy clothes. Your volleyball shoes too, if ya wanna dance in them. And don’t worry,” Ryuunosuke cups his hand beside his mouth to whisper in it. The reluctance in Tsukishima loses to curiosity and the need for secrecy, as he leans forward and bows. “I won’t tell the others. Yuu can also keep his mouth shut. And take Yamaguchi with you, if you’re scared.” 

“‘M not scared.” Tsukishima mumbles, adjusting his glasses, and leaving Ryuunosuke’s side as quickly as he can. 

A touch at his elbow makes Ryuunosuke turn, looking at his gorgeous girlfriend. She mimics his motion earlier, cupping her mouth to whisper in his ear.

“Hitoka-chan is coming, just to watch. Oh, and meet me at the hill beside the school later.” Kiyoko holds his elbow still, making him lean down, enabling her to kiss his cheek. It’s the last days of a warm Autumn, and they acquired a habit of visiting certain silent places around school to hang out.

“Sure thing.” He whispers after her when she leaves. Ryuunosuke doesn’t duck, or feel, the second ball Daichi aims at the side of his head. It’s hard to feel anything but Kiyoko’s soft and gentle lips, warming the top of his cheek in all the right ways. 

*~*~*

After being told many times she isn’t too heavy to sit or lie on him, Kiyoko makes it her only right to lie all across his body. She lets her hands roam his tight chest and over his shoulders, making him chuckle in a shy way before she moves on to his arms. Kiyoko touches them without being light or shy about it. Her nails run over the inside of his elbows and he shudders. It could be the coming of a cold Autumn, but Kiyoko takes great pride in knowing she can make Ryuunosuke’s body shake and tremble through her own means.

“Kiyoko-san, please be more careful.” 

The song on Kiyoko’s mp3-player skips to the next one. She’s acquired Akemi’s special track mixes, and the Birthday cake song starts playing. Teasing back as much as he is teased, Ryuunosuke grins, flexing his biceps when Kiyoko’s fingertips tap above it.

“If you wanna put your name on it.” 

Kiyoko leans close, her hair falling down to frame her own and Ryuunosuke’s face. He’s all smiles, letting his fingers comb through her strands. 

“Maybe I will. Using something else than a marker.” 

His laughter rumbles through his chest, across her heart as she leans over him. Ryuunosuke’s fingers go through her hair once more, pushing her down for a kiss. They don’t take much time brushing lips and go straight for French kissing. It’s hot and long-lasting, Ryuunosuke letting her tilt her head and deepen the kiss whenever she wants to. He chases her when they part, but not too much and not too expectantly.

Although it looks clumsy whenever her glasses fall down her nose as they kiss, Ryuunosuke’s laugh isn’t mocking her. It’s why Kiyoko knows she can say the next words without her face becoming red. 

“My parents want to meet you, and I said we could go together to the dance center on Sunday… So, do you want to come over Saturday after school? We can practice at my place, and uhm- My mother asked what your favourite food is.” She would have hoped that after the few months of dating, her intentions would be clear enough. Yet Ryuunosuke misses the hinting tone in Kiyoko’s voice.

“Eh, you want me to sleep over? Are your parents fine with that?”

She sighs, adjusting her glasses. “My mother is. My father is a little reluctant, but I’m old enough to make my own decisions.” Kiyoko sighs, hoping that this makes plans clearer to him. At first Ryuunosuke looks up to her, trying to decipher the secret message. Once he does, his smile widens. 

“Well, if you want me to come, I’d be happy to!” He grins, kissing her lips once more. “I’m looking forward to it, Kiyoko-san.” 

He says her name in such a whispering dirty tone that Kiyoko can’t help the fire burning beneath her face, which she hides on top of his collarbone. Beaten.

“Could you guys, uh, not do this around here maybe?” Sugawara cringes at their sight, but Kiyoko has no shame or any empathy for him. She told Ryuunosuke to come to the hill because it shields them from the team. Not her fault they come by here still. 

Kiyoko gives him a cold stare, then ignores him and goes down on Tanaka. Their lips brush for a second before Ryuunosuke opens his mouth and teases her lips, and they slowly start kissing again. The days that Kiyoko would hide her true self and care about what other things are long gone, and she lets her tongue slip inside, tasting Ryuunosuke’s tongue with her own. The hum of his appreciation across her mouth vibrates through her lips and to another place. She cannot have this particular Saturday night come any faster.

There’s a collective groan passing them by. Kiyoko opens her eyes to slits to see if they’re all gone, and sees blurry figures from the side of her glasses where the glass itself doesn’t reach. Angling her head, she watches the first years walk by without looking at the pair on the grass. Kiyoko can see their eyes (and in one case the neck) burning up bright red. Once they’re gone, she sits up again, happy with her work on Ryuunosuke’s lips. 

“You’re a devil, Kiyoko-san. My dirty girl.” His eyebrows shake and it makes her laugh. 

She asks him if he wants to dance, and he moans that his back hurts from yesterday. 

“I’d rather skip it today, if you don’t mind.” He says, stroking her hair lovingly. 

They practiced a medley of ‘I’m legit’, ‘Whip it’, and a Christina Aguilera song named ‘Woohoo’. During the last song, Kiyoko’s foot had slipped and fallen, quite intimately, on top of Ryuunosuke, making his back fall to the floor. While Kiyoko tried to apologize, Ryuunosuke made known the fact that there’s a game where ‘Woohoo’ is the word for ‘sex’, and wondered if Kiyoko ever played that game. 

Abashed by the memory, Kiyoko hits his chest, and Ryuunosuke play-fakes being in pain, while not stopping her. Kiyoko knows it doesn’t hurt him, and she also knows he could stop her any moment with the strength he possesses, or even worse, his kissing technique.

She stops and stares, until he sits up to kiss her nose, then her chin, until he finally meets the middle of both places. Her hands travel across his shoulders to hold on, and they make out for a short while. The team doesn’t dare to pass them by anyway. Ukai has not much to say to it, either. Kiyoko had run the idea by him that Hitoka has to know what to do without asking Kiyoko, and she had told him she needed Ryuunosuke for something. 

Sitting on his lap, Kiyoko wonders if asking this boy to stay overnight had been a good idea.


	4. Legit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all the waiting and watching and feeling silly, after the team found out about them dancing and it paved the road to become a couple and be together, after all the blushing and dating and ridiculousness in their hearts, Kiyoko finally takes the next step. She only has to make sure Ryuunosuke won't stumble over the bathroom mat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I CRY. Oh god I still can't believe that I am finally able to show this story that has been in my gdocs for monTHS to everyone in its fully hip hop influenced glory. 
> 
> I just loved writing them. They were one of the first pairs that I really got invested into starting HQ!! and it's my favourite Tanaka & Kiyoko ship (I just ship Kiyoko with him to be honest). Making Tanaka this awesome person in Kiyoko's eyes and having her see all these new things about him, and re-evaluate what she thinks of him was really lovely~ Tanaka having lots of fans and people who respect them felt really good for my heart uvu He deserves all the love, and Kiyoko deserves a guy who pleases her without wanting things for himself (which happens in this chapter even more :DDD Fuefuefeuefue~~)
> 
> Enjoy~!

Things go better than planned. The team wins that Saturday afternoon against Datekou who have come for a practice match, the routine they practice afterwards is perfect. Her family accepts Ryuunosuke, who puts his best foot forward with her father too, and makes him believe Ryuunosuke is the most-wanted son-in-law a father could wish for. Wearing a dress shirt and his school uniform pants might have helped that impression. Dinner goes really well, and no one has complains when Kiyoko and Ryuunosuke vanish into her room upstairs.

Things go really well in there too. They watch a movie on the laptop she borrows from her mother, and they cozy up in front of her bed between blankets and cushions everywhere. Kiyoko likes when they sit like this, she between his legs. It’s both comforting and arousing that her naked legs below the skirt brush against his pants. Both the movie nerds, they do not try anything during the movie. 

It’s when her mother calls to them that the bath is ready when things shatter.

“You go first, Kiyoko-san.” He smiles at her, saying he’ll watch a match of his favourite team while she’s gone. Torn between what she was planning to do later and what they could do now in the bathroom, Kiyoko staggers to the door, torn between going outside or trying harder to get him to follow. Hand on the side, she looks at Ryuunosuke, his eyes concentrated looking for the match online. 

“Uhm! If you want, you can join me!” She stutters, then runs to the bathroom before she can see or hear his reaction. Closing the bathroom door behind her, leaning against it. That might have been a mistake. However, her parents wouldn’t come up here for a while, and she might as well see him naked here already. 

Kiyoko is scared half to the grave when a knock raps through the door against her shoulder.

“Y-yes?” She calls out, hand on the door and not thinking about opening.

“Uh, Kiyoko-san?” 

“Yes, what it is?” She says, more composed, biting her bottom lip and trying to make her heart calm down already. 

“You uh- were you for real just now?” 

Exhaling, she opens the door, standing in the doorway as if nothing is wrong at all. Might as well confess her true intention of the night.

“You’re staying over.” She states, and Ryuunosuke nods. They’ve established this before when she invited him. “And well, I thought, we might as well get it over it.”

“Over what? Seeing each other naked!? I think it’s a bit much, Kiyoko-san.” He’s red all over, fumbling his fingers and linking them. It’s so endearing that Kiyoko feels safer and more secure. Hearing her father pass by the stairs below, she takes Ryuunosuke’s hand and leads him in, closing the door behind him and locking it before anyone can change their mind.

Turning to him, she feels shame leave her body. After all, she’s intent of being in love with this boy and having him to herself, in any way they can be together. 

“Ryuunosuke-kun, say, have you ever been with a girl?” 

“N-no, I told you.” Ryuunosuke looks at her, worrying himself. “You’re my first girlfriend.” 

Kiyoko doesn’t think his shyness is necessary. Although he was inexperienced, he learns fast, a naturally good kisser on top of being the caring type. Ryuunosuke is sensitive, which leads to him being very attentive. He knows what she wants without her ever having to express her thoughts to him. And maybe, that’s why he is so nervous now. Kiyoko thought her intentions had been semi-clear, and Ryuunosuke evading her eyes ensures that he knows what she would like to do.

She touches his hands, and Ryuunosuke takes hers without thought. Her bare feet brush Ryuunosuke’s, and she leans up to brush her nose over his chin. It’s a quiet moment, a single drop falling from the tap into the bath water.

“You don’t have to, if you’re not ready. But I’d like to, Ryuunosuke. A- a lot.” 

Ryuunosuke’s lids are half-lidded, and way too sensual. Kiyoko cannot look away of them. It is safer to look at him, while his fingers travel elsewhere. He undresses her slowly and carefully, leaving enough time if she wanted him to stop. When she doesn’t say anything, he continues at her bra. She finds it adorable how he swallows, looking at her eyes when he fumbles forever at the back of her bra. Helping out, she leans her breasts against his chest. Once she undoes her bra, his fingers slide under the straps, ever so slowly removing them from her shoulders, down to her arms, leaving them at the soft side of her elbows.

“I- eh.” Ryuunosuke coughs, looking to her eyes or above of her head. “Is it okay if I- uhm. Look?” 

Her laughter rings light throughout the bathroom. Facing the bathtub, Kiyoko pushes at his hips, making him walk backwards towards it. His pants are loosening up, falling, and they walk over them. When they’re at the tub, he’s only wearing his boxershorts. 

“Of course you’re allowed, Ryuunosuke.” There’s a bit of space between them, and Kiyoko lifts her own bra from her body.

Ryuunosuke doesn’t look. He stares at the ceiling, stuttering incoherent words, that don’t come to life and just stay blabbering sounds. Kiyoko blushes, somehow happy he’s nervous and actually not looking at her. She removes her underwear, then holds his arms when she steps into the tub.

“You following?” Kiyoko asks when she gradually sits down, still holding one of his arms. Her knees in front of her bare breasts. Speedier than time, Ryuunosuke turns to removes his shorts, flashing his ass to her, then jumps into the tub. The splash makes Kiyoko hold her hands up and close her eyes, while some water splashes on her glasses. 

Ryuunosuke sits in front of Kiyoko, mirroring her pose, blinking.

“Okay wow. Damn. Goddamn.” He breathes out at last, laughing. Kiyoko presses her lips together. She’s learned that taking your time leads to good things, but angsting about being in love and refusing to show her true nature wouldn’t do her any good. She’s fallen for Ryuunosuke, and as her future includes studying and doing well on her entrance exams, for now she just wants to be with him as much as possible. It’s not rushed, but still she doesn’t feel like she has any time or need to wait for the things she wants and is ready for.

She unlocks her hands and knees from the front of her breasts, and slides forward.

Ryuunosuke’s string of curses are like a rope pulling her in instead of stopping her. 

“Shit. Oh my god. Ki-Kiyoko-san pl-please, shit, what are you,” He stutters, peeking at her chest, his face burning up, the colour spreading to his collarbone. Kiyoko smiles, her hands on his knees, making him part so she can take a seat on his lap. “Wait a second what are you doing!? What- oh. Fuck fuck fuck, holy shit.” 

Hands on his shoulders, she reassures him that this is okay, and leans her bottom fully on his lap, sitting back quite relaxed. Ryuunosuke takes a sharp breath, his lips pressed together and his nose flared. Then he breathes out. “Holy fuck, really!?” 

Kiyoko cannot be anything else than a couple of nervous chuckles, her cheeks just as tinted as Ryuunosuke’s. She leads his hands to at least touch the side of her hips. He blinks, looks down, sputters again. Then he whispers he must be dreaming, that it all had been a dream the second they danced in the sports hall back at school (“No, it must have been earlier-”). Shaking her head, Kiyoko leans forward, letting her breasts lay flush against Ryuunosuke’s chest. She kisses his mouth shut, letting the next string of curses become a moan against her mouth. This is as far as she can go on her own. Her bottom won’t move. Although their sexes are only slightly touching, Kiyoko feels herself trembling like a leaf in a way too strong hurricane wind. 

Ryuunosuke leans his head backwards, his hands roaming over Kiyoko’s back. He’s dipping lower than he’d usually let himself go when they’re not dancing, and even then he’d barely hover or tickle her bum. The kiss feels more risque and heated, the lack of clothes, their position, and all the warm water making the biggest difference. 

“Ki...yoko-san,” Ryuunosuke whispers, while Kiyoko brushes the back of his head and neck. Her eyes closed, as if she needs to take a moment. Not letting herself realize how far she’s going, she makes her lips move. First she kisses his bottom lip, then she confesses on top of his mouth.

“I really like you, Ryuunosuke. And. And If you’d have me I’d- I’d be happy to, ah.” 

His manhood touches Kiyoko, ever so slightly, a small persistence hardening against her. They open their eyes at the same time. 

“God, Kiyoko, you’re so beautiful.” He whispers past her cheeks, kissing her ear. “I wouldn't ever be able to deny you anything, Kiyoko-san.” He bites her earlobe in a way that has her head tilting, and a soft moan echo in the bathroom. “But, just. Fuck. Could we- could we do this in- y-your bed? Maybe?” 

She nods her head, holding his head with two hands, kissing his forehead. “That was my initial plan.”

“Oh fuck, you know what?” He touches her arms, his thumbs rubbing over her slender wrist. “We forgot to shower before going into the damn bath!” He laughs, and it catches on to Kiyoko, who laughs at well. They totally forgot the customary cleaning shower before the tub. 

“Ah, I am sorry. It’s my fault for being so impatient,” Is what Kiyoko says, but her grin stands in contrast to any remorse. They snort again, Ryuunosuke looking down as he chuckles. One look at her breasts, and he swears again. It rings with happy laughter and a ‘thank you for being alive’ message to the gods. 

They dry off, and dress half-way; Ryuunosuke only covering his lower half, while Kiyoko only puts on his dress shirt and takes the rest of their clothes. Ryuunosuke holds open all the doors, and they run and hide into her room, giggling like the young and hormone-filled teenagers that they are. It might be that Ryuunosuke is still nervous, but he takes away Kiyoko’s worries when he tickles her, kisses her face, tickles her some more until she crumbles back first on the bed.

They move naturally, instincts leading, while the inexperience hides behind it. Ryuunosuke has to leave the bed twice, to turn some lights off, as well as get the condoms Kiyoko had somehow, through blushing and stuttering, requested from Akemi. Once they’re settled the way they need to be, Kiyoko naked on ther back, Tanaka equally naked above her, they look at each other once more. Kiyoko takes one look at Ryuunosuke’s hard member hanging between her thighs, and thinks her head might as well explode. 

Ryuunosuke, misunderstanding, looks down between them too, and then gasps.

“Shit, I forgot, foreplay!” 

The second it takes for Kiyoko to catch up to what Ryuunosuke just said and is willing to do, it's too late to stop the attempting. His mouth is hot against her neck, and his hands tremble when they touch her breast. She can’t even tell him to stop, to explain to him it's not necessary, when she feels his nervous, cold hands tremble when he holds her. Hovering above Kiyoko and supporting his own body on his elbows, Ryuunosuke rubs her breast slightly, his nose running down her neck and to her collarbone.

Ryuunosuke’s mouth leaves a wet trail of hot breath against her skin, and he whisper-begs her to tell him if he does anything wrong. Eyes to the ceiling, Kiyoko is more concerned with what he does _right_ , and doesn’t think she’s able to look down. Not when Ryuunosuke licks her breast, before enclosing his whole mouth around her nipple and sucking.

“O-oh!” She clasps a hand across her mouth, and Ryuunosuke sucks harder. His lips kiss between her breasts, then move down, down, down, until Kiyoko is unable to close her thighs. His tongue traces circles on the soft innerside between her thigh and her vagina, and his kisses, ever so carefully, to her wet cave. Kiyoko breathes against her hand, tension building up as Ryuunosuke licks her center, moaning against her most private area. As soon as his tongue slips inside, her tension leaves her body, and she becomes all lax against the mattress. 

He holds her legs, fingers brushing up and down one side to help her relax. Ryuunosuke’s tongue is clumsier down there than he’d been with her mouth at their first kiss, but it’s charming and giving her a good feeling nonetheless. At the same time, Kiyoko doesn’t think she would be able to do anything like it, to go down on him and-

“Jesus.” He rasps, looking up to her. Kiyoko, wishing she would have taken her glasses off as to not see him as clearly as she can, can’t help but listen to his heady voice, which compels her to look at him. Ryuunosuke, between her thighs, mouth wet, eyes glazed over by lust and want. He doesn’t have to do anything but look at her, to make her tremble right then and there. Kiyoko leans on her pillows, not trying to push him away or hide. “You look so goddamn beautiful and… really sexy right now.”

She was the one who initiated this, and she comes to understand that they have a push and pull like this in dancing, too. One always has to take the other’s hand and pull. And when that person falters, shies away, the other would start to become more dominant, take over, say it’s alright. 

Kiyoko trusts him, more than anything, to keep her good company and not be frightened of going further. His hand leaves one of her thighs, sliding up to the mattress to take her hand. His finger has to slide into the fist she balled against her body, to uncurl the fingers and trace them before he holds her.

“‘s Okay if I continue?”

Her throat is too dry to attempt a simple affirmation. Kiyoko nods her head instead, hopes it’s visible in this position. Like in volleyball, Ryuunosuke licks his lips before he attacks, then kisses the inside of her thigh. He mouths his way up to the knee, then trails his tongue over her soft stomach, all the way up to Kiyoko’s head once more. Only to stop short before kissing her mouth.

“Ah, that won’t do…” His cheeks burn while his smile pushes them up, but Kiyoko brushes his head, loving the feel of it against her palm. 

“There’s water,” she says, voice cracking. Kiyoko is desperate for the refreshing liquid herself. “Below the bed. A bottle.” He fractures her, bit by bit, undoes the person Kiyoko believes she’d be to transform her into the next stage of her personal evolution.

“Ch, you’re killing me, Kiyoko-san. Did you plan this far ahead?”

“No, I- I didn’t think of you doing, well that. The thing you did.” She looks down between her legs, then has to look away when she sees his manhood, still hard in the condom. This is a reversed deja-vu from what just happened in the bathroom. She watches him chuckle, torso all tight when he finds the bottled water and drinks. She licks her own lips, watching water run down his mouth, over his swallowing throat, and onto his chest. Wishing she could get up and kiss him the way he kissed her, the only motion she’s unable to control is her hand following the water drops, smearing them across his hard chest. His heartbeat goes just as fast as her own. 

Ryuunosuke leans down, while her hand is still on his heart, and kisses her lips softly, encouraging her. 

“Okay, you good? I’m good. I mean I’m cool with this but- If you want me to stop.” He stops short, looking away. “I will. I promise Kiyoko.”

“Women can bear a little pain. Don’t worry.” She smiles, one hand still on his chest when the other goes to his neck to pull him down for instructions. “As long as you kiss me and take it slow, I’ll be fine, Ryuunosuke.” 

“Okay.” He doesn’t look all to sure, and his gentle nature shines through; he really doesn’t want to inflict any kind of pain. That alone makes Kiyoko open up. He kisses her face, even her lids and brow. Kiyoko has to close her eyes as he enters her, doing as slowly as she asked of him. The stretch is bearable, if strange. Kiyoko always found her own fingers feeling freaky as well. Right now, the fingers of the hand Ryuunosuke isn’t holding close around his shoulder, trying not to tremble or clench too much. 

He licks her ear, tickles her with his breath, whispers all sorts of compliments into her ear. The hand holding hers grips tighter, his elbow steadies him to stay hovering above her and not crush Kiyoko. She presses her feet apart wider, allowing him to move as much as he wishes. While he is merciless at her ear, licking inside and nibbling Kiyoko’s earlobe, he inches inside bit by bit. His hips slide down her thighs until he’s flush against her.

“Holy fucking shit, I think I can die now.” He lets out a laugh, and Kiyoko has to join in, not that much in pain as relaxed and feeling safe beneath him. “God, please, I hope this will feel as good for you as it does for me, damn.” 

Ryuunosuke blows raspberries on her collarbone, making her laugh as he starts to move. She clenches around him, in all the ways that are good. She holds his shoulders, while her thighs enclose his waist. Working up a pace, Ryuunosuke brushes her hair away, kissing her forehead, looking at her. 

“You good, babe?” He asks, quiet and considering.

“Yes, Ryuu,” she closes her eyes, mouth open. “Feels good.” It’s all he needs to hear to move somewhat faster, and he holds her chin as he kisses her again. He only moves his hips, but it drives Kiyoko crazy. It really feels amazing, his arms move around her, enclosing her entire being against his own, pushing Kiyoko’s body against himself. Ryuunosuke lets his body lean on her, light as a crow feather, without crushing her. 

“Ki-Kiyoko, I- I can’t. I’m gonna-”

“Shh, it’s okay.” She bites her lips, head pushed to the cushion when his cock rubs against her clitoris. Ryuunosuke looks down between them, watches himself move in and out, then laughs as if he can’t believe it’s happening. One hand leaves her shoulder where he held her close, then drops his hand between them. Kiyoko doesn’t know what he’s up to when he slows his motions, and then his thumb is rubbing her clitoris, and whatever she was thinking, flows straight out of her head. Moans leave her mouth, unashamed and unmuted. 

Kissing his neck and shoulders, Kiyoko does try to mute herself. Her brows furrow, her whole body constricts as she’s being brought to the brink. Her arms around Ryuunosuke’s neck, she lets herself be touched and loved in all the ways Ryuunosuke wants to, until her body cannot take it anymore. She makes him kiss her, to muffle the sounds, as her moans vibrate between their mouths. Just before Kiyoko’s orgasm starts to drive her insane, she moves her hips too, eager to meet Ryuunosuke’s. 

He bites on her lip, then moans, “Kiyoko, oh- shit- fucking hell,” coming at the same time as she does. 

Kiyoko trembles, fingers pushing the glasses over her forehead, only to lay arm across her eyes. As if she hasn’t been breathing properly the past minutes, she takes a breath. Ryuunosuke removes himself out of her, off her, relieves himself of the condom, ties a knot in it when Kiyoko tells him to, and then throws it away. Kiyoko puts her glasses on her nightstand, waits for Ryuunosuke to put the blanket above them. He lies on his back and pulls her to his chest, clicking the last light in her room off. 

They’re embraced by the night, a heavy smell of musk and pheromones in the air. Kiyoko takes a few moments to calm herself down, listen to Ryuunosuke’s heartbeat under her hand, soothing her. He’s the first able to speak.

“Okay, what the hell, that was the freaking best.” Ryuunosuke breathes out, kissing her forehead when she leans over him. 

“Yeah,” Kiyoko manages to say, one fist balling on top of his chest. She lets one of her legs run over his, not too innocent, but not pressing either. One of Ryuunosuke’s arm is around her back, his hand brushing her shoulder. The other holds her elbow, and he kisses her forehead again.

“Thank you.” Lying all pampered and comforted, Kiyoko barely manages to say good night, waiting for Ryuunosuke to reply in the same fashion, before they fall asleep.

*~*~*

Her body had never felt this amazing. It’s cozy beneath the blanket, under which they’re still naked. It’s morning, sunlight shining in from a crack between her curtains. 

Kiyoko is unable to move. Her body doesn’t feel bruised, or super weird, only different. A sigh of content breathes out of her nose and over Ryuunosuke’s chest, who moves as if it woke him. Instead, his eyes stay shut, and his arms press her tighter against him.

 _This is what bliss feels like_ , she thinks, not closing her eyes as she can see everything of him close by and relish in it. Kiyoko uncurls her hand and lets her nails trail over Ryuunosuke’s skin, a stark contrast between his almost suntan and her fair skin. The confusion and whirlwind of emotions of the past finally settled down in an amazing moment of serenity.

Half an hour later, her mother knocks on the door without opening it, giving her daughter the privacy she needs. 

“Kiyoko, breakfast will be ready in 20 minutes, okay? Are you guys awake?”

Calloused fingers brush over Kiyoko’s shoulder, tapping a beat against her for confirmation. Kiyoko holds her head up to answer her mom, then settles back, higher up this time, her head fitting into Ryuunosuke’s neck.

“‘Morning princess. Slept well?”

She grins against his collarbone, humming. “Mhnnn, I slept awesome,” using his language to answer, they both laugh. 

Ryuunosuke kisses her forehead, brows, the whole face before he gets to her lips for a soft peck.

“Ah, shit, wait.” He speaks above her head, holding a hand against his mouth. “Shoulda brushed my teeth first, sorry.”

Stretching herself like a cat, Kiyoko sighs, then collects the blanket around herself to have some decency while she finds her clothes off the floor. In doing so, she relieves the blanket off Ryuunosuke, bit by bit, until only his crotch is protected for a safe view. Kiyoko looks around to ask him something about bathroom turns, but then sees him lying stretched out, happy, an arm behind his head, and barely covered.

Blushing, Kiyoko turns around, but doesn’t move away from the bed to run away when a gentle hand trails down her spine. 

“Could you give me my shorts? We can go together. ‘s Just brushing teeth, right?” 

“Wait a second.” Kiyoko winds the blanket around her, not seeing how Ryuunosuke is butt-naked as she leaves the bed to find his shorts (which she had thrown in a pile when they came back yesterday evening). She flings it at him, right on top of his head, then dresses herself in pajamas which she hadn’t needed yesterday. 

As she brushes her hair, Ryuunosuke comes to stand behind her. She sees him approach in the mirror, all tight muscles, few bruises littered across his skin, and claw marks at his shoulder. Before Kiyoko can inspect those, apologize for making them, his hands brush away the hair from her neck, then kisses it.

“I love you, Kiyoko.” His strong arms loop around her stomach, to hug her tight. “I love you, a lot. I love you so much.” 

Kiyoko smiles, her hands brushing over the back of his bigger ones, then turns around to loop her arms around him. She leaves a single kiss on his throat, unable to look at the softest expression he ever gave her.

“Love you too, Ryuu.”

Kiyoko’s alarm, which she forgot to put off last night, rings. Ryuunosuke’s eyes widen as he turns.

“Oooh, that’s my jam!” He doesn’t let go of her while the beginning tunes of “I’m Legit” starts playing in their cozy warm background. Ryuunosuke takes her hands when the rap part starts, turns her around to face him as she giggles. She falls into his rhythm and hey step their way through Kiyoko’s room to the door, Ryuunosuke wooing her once more with his moves. He’s way too cute when he makes faces and mouths the lyrics, and she has to pretend she doesn’t want to rush him to the bathroom.

Kiyoko wants to kiss him all over again.

They somehow manage to get into the bathroom and out of it without any trouble, dress properly and be in time for breakfast. Her mother knows what up, and Ryuunosuke tries to look innocent when Kiyoko’s father walks in. They’re hardly able to keep their hands off each other under the table, sneaking handholding and tickle attacks in while eating rice and miso soup.

Ryuunosuke eats as if he has manners for once, but when Kiyoko sees the tiniest rice grain at the corner of his mouth, she’s thankful that her parents are off the breakfast table. 

“Hold still.” She says to Ryuunosuke, her hand on his thigh when she leans over to kiss it off him.

He blinks twice, then pecks her lips, just in time before her parents return. 

*~*~*

No one wants to think that the third years will retire in two weeks. Kiyoko had decided to follow as well, and leaving Hitoka to be able to handle the first month, while Kiyoko would still be there to help and answer questions.

Maybe it’s because they won Nationals, maybe it’s because the mood must be lifted, or maybe it might as well be because it’s Hinata’s request. As Kiyoko walks in and puts her indoor shoes on, she witnesses Ryuunosuke being unable to show off.

“So you can do headspins, too, Tanaka-senpai!?” Hinata is all sparkles and excitement, something which is hard to say no to when it beams right up in your face. 

“Hah, of course I can, Hinata.” Ryuunosuke points at himself, two thumbs. “First move I learned, after all!”

“Doesn’t it hurt, being bald-”

“Shut up, Kinoshita! I’m not bald, alright! Watch this.” Ryuunosuke turns around to where Tsukishima sits, pointing at him. “Yo, Tsukishima, give me a beat.” 

“Don’t want to? And you don’t need music for that, Tanaka-san.” Tsukishima replies, trying to act as much as if he has no idea what he’s talking about. Alas, Tsukishima fools no one. Much less Yamaguchi, who sits beside him, laughing. Kiyoko has seen him coming to the regular hours when she and Ryuunosuke hang and dance at their respective dance lessons. 

“Call me senpai, damnit, you ungrateful brat!” Doing a ‘whatever’ hand move, Ryuunosuke then leans forward and does a handstand, letting the top of his head lower to the floor. As requested, he does a few headspins, under the watchful eyes of the team present. Most of them clap, too, once he’s done, Hinata and Kageyama loudest of all. Kiyoko doesn’t, as she knows he can do better things than simple headspins. 

“Okay, that’s really impressive, Tanaka. Now let’s get back to practice!” Ennoshita bellows, clasping his hand on Ryuunosuke’s shoulder. It’s friendly however, and the next captain divides the teams. 

Before Ryuunosuke can move to his designated place as Karasuno’s next ace, to face off for a few last times against Azumane, Kiyoko walks up behind him, holding him off from stepping on the court by a simple hand touch to his shoulder. His face breaks in two from a wide smile, and he turns to her silent request. A small bow forward from him and a tiptoe second of hers is all it takes to let Kiyoko kiss him. 

“I’ve cram school tomorrow, but I’m off at 7 pm. Pick me up?” 

Ryuunosuke’s arms loop around her and he lifts her as if on command, kissing her lips again. “Of course, princess! Everything for my gorgeous girl. D’you need anything from the convenience store?” 

Kiyoko meant ‘for dinner’ but doesn’t say it out loud for now, just shaking her head at the offer. She didn’t quite anticipate being lifted off her feet, but while she holds onto Ryuunosuke’s shoulders as they spin, she doesn’t mind it one bit. They ignore Ennoshita’s grumbles, Sawamura’s sighs, which all drowns out by her loud giggles. Ryuunosuke can be mean as he tickles her sides a little, letting her laugh out loud, not hiding anymore.

In this moment, any worries she might have had disappear, creating something shiny and wonderful and pure in her heart, something that’s meant to be and to stay. When he puts her down, it doesn’t feel as if any of that is lost, only amplified by his big wide smile. Some things might be unsure, such as where she will move to for her studies, or if she will have enough time to see Ryuunosuke once she starts attending university. Some things however, she knows. 

The things she didn’t anticipate turned into the best possible things that ever happened to Kiyoko. Just like the butterflies fluttering up a storm in her stomach which do not become silent when her feet are on the floor, not when Ryuunosuke gives her lips one last small kiss before he runs up to the net. He’s fired up like all hell is loose, telling Kageyama (who doesn’t even blush anymore when he sees his senpai being affectionate) to toss him all the balls.

Kiyoko takes her her place next to Hitoka, and allows herself, feeling silly enough for it, to write a heart next to Ryuunosuke’s name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All my love and gratefulness goes to my beta, Hannah, who is the most awesome friend I could wish for! I'm eternal indebted to for all the work you do for me honey, reading all these fics about ships you hardly know anything about, but fall in love with nonetheless. Thank you so much for seeing Haikyuu!! the way I see it and adore all the characters I present to you in my own form and style ;A; 
> 
> Hannah was also the one whose reactions and comments kept me going to create this out-of-proportion-gotten fic, and I'll never forget her incredible first reaction to Tanaka's dancing. She named him 'hip hop legend'.
> 
> My other thanks go out to an actual hip hop legend, Nicki Minaj, whose playlists got me through writing this little monster. All her sexy songs turned up on spotify once I was writing the more erotic parts in the following chapter. If you like her even a little bit, please listen to 'Truffle butter', 'Anaconda' and of course 'Feeling myself'~ 
> 
> Lastly of course: Thanks to you who has read this!! Please enjoy the last part and I'd be super happy to see any kind of comments ;v; I hope this fixes anyone Tanaka/Kiyoko needs even with the dancing niche added to it.


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